Monster Room
by ChocolateAntelope
Summary: WW. On Link's second run through of the game, he goes on a mission to get every single mini-boss and boss pictograph. During his quest, he learns a few tricks to getting them. Not really a novelization. Rated T for battle scenes.
1. Empty Room

Author's note: Takes place on the second run through, where Link wears his Outset outfit and starts out with the colored pictobox. Italicized passages shows a flashback of the first run through.

_"The new figurine is in the room two doors to the left...my left of course!" Carlov chortled. Link thought as much. It was always to his left or his right. There was also a room directly across from Karlov, but it seemed that he never made figurines for that room._

_"Carlov, what's that room across from you for?" Link asked._

_"For figurines, of course. What else?" The figurine man answered with a big grin on his face._

_"I mean, why don't you ever use it?" Link amended._

_"Well, you've never shown me pictographs that I could shape into figurines to place there."_

_"Well what pictographs do you need for that room?"_

_A long pause. Finally, Carlov sighed and said, "Pictographs of rare, powerful monsters. Like Gohdan, the Great Arbiter or the Phantom Ganon."_

_"Ohhhh. So you want pictures of powerful monsters, mini-bosses, and bosses?"_

_"Well, I suppose so. I've always wanted to craft them. So get some good pictographs, you hear me?"_

_"Sure thing," Link replied, hurrying out the portal back into the world._

-  
Link found quickly that there was something different about saving the world the second time. For one, he didn't have to wear the green outfit with the silly green nightcap. Instead, he could freely feel the wind in his exposed hair.

The other thing was feeling this weird prick in his mind everywhere Link went. Like he was having déjà vu. He knew everything he had done to save the world the first time, but he couldn't see the images and thoughts in his head. He could only faintly remember a few of his memories. Like the pictograph memory, where he promised himself to complete the "Boss and Mini-Boss" room. Or the feeling that he used to be way better at using a sword than this.

The green bokoblin stood before him with a sword in hand (or maybe claws?). Link mirrored it, holding up his own shield and sword (although Link couldn't believe he'd lost it again on the Forsaken Fortress). They were at the top of the fortress, the only exit blocked off by spikes in the ground. It was a duel to the death. Link recognized all the signs of a mini-boss fight, and remembering his goal, he quickly put away his sword to snap a pictograph of it. The only thing he could remember about bokoblins were that they wore a trinket around their necks that were called Joy Pendants. He had often stolen them from the monsters with his grappling hook before they died.

The green imp bolted for Link, screeching and swinging his sword down at Link. He easily sidestepped and, seeing an opening in the imp's poor defense, went at it with a horizontal cut, his blade drawn again. Much to his surprise, the imp merely raised his wood shield and blocked the attack before slicing at Link's torso. He gasped in pain as the swing connected, but luckily, the bokoblin was off guard, so he ran at it with a flurry of attacks, each one weakening the monster. Link could tell it was almost finished, and before he realized what he was doing he instinctively reached in pocket...

To find that what he seemed to be looking for wasn't there. Confused, Link started wondering why he was even digging through his pocket in the first place.

The imp, noticing that Link was distracted, ran up and tried to attack Link again. Link was able to dodge, but was too slow, and resulted in a minor cut in his arm. Ignoring it for now, he quickly gathered his bearings and slew the beast. It died, dropping the Joy Pendant on the ground.

Seeing it, Link jumped. He remembered that he was trying to steal it earlier with his grappling hook. He knew it was a grappling hook, but he couldn't remember what it _was_. Frustrated, he picked it up and placed it in his newly acquired spoils' bag. Then he pushed open the large wooden door to where his sister and some other girls were.

Just like before, Link was just about to set them free when the Helmarok King came. It picked him up and went to Ganondorf for orders. Where Link was, it was impossible to get a shot of the bird's head, but he was able to capture a very, very blurry pictograph of Ganondorf. Then he was flung out to sea by the Helmarok King and lost consciousness before landing in the water.

Author's note: So, sorry about Link's amnesia. I know there are tons of stories about it, but how was I supposed to explain Link's adventure without breaking the fourth wall? Also, this isn't really a novelization, just me writing about getting the Pictos of monsters. Third, I'm not good at writing battle scenes yet. I'm working on it!


	2. First Moblin

Author's note: I failed to mention this earlier, but there are going to be spoilers for a lot of stuff, since I'm going to be writing about Link's adventures getting boss pictos, meaning he's gonna have to fight the bosses too. I'm gonna try to keep this from becoming a guide, but I'm going to be writing about all the dungeons and temples.

According to the dungeon map of Dragon Roost Cavern, Link was on the very top floor. He was currently standing at the bottom step of a small gray staircase outside of the cavern, away from the dreaded heat. He felt the wind cool his face as he studied the map and-

The stair he was on began to slip down off the staircase into the abyss below. Realizing that he would fall with it, Link, in a panic, started to run up the stairs, taking two stairs at a time. It was a rather long staircase, but Link focused his attention at ascending the steps as fast as he could, feeling rather unnerved at each stair that would gave way a second after he would step on it.

Finally, he reached the end of the stairs and set his foot on sturdy rock. Looking behind him, his eyes widened in shock as he noticed the huge gap where the stairs once were. _Guess I'm not going back_, Link thought. He fervently hoped that there would be a way out, especially since he was on the top floor of the dungeon. He panted and spent some time catching his breath. Annoyed at himself for lowering his guard earlier, he turned and brandished his sword, and entered the room ahead, which was rather spacious.

The first thing he noticed was Valoo, perched atop the peak of the mountain, roaring and flailing where he sat. Until now, Link had never noticed how enormous he was. Link wondered why he didn't just fly away or something, but it almost seemed as if something was keeping him stuck there or something.

In the room, to the left was another staircase, Link noted with wary. It led to some sort of platform. Link also noticed that besides from the the entrance there was no other way out. Tall walls made the borders for the chamber. Link was about to leave, seeing that he was at a dead end, but then remembered that the path for the only way back collapsed and fell into the abyss, so he had no choice but to stay where he was. Lining alongside the walls were small blue pots. Link wondered what were inside them.

Straight ahead, were two green bokoblins, wielding shields and machetes. Weirdly enough, they didn't seem to notice Link. They were both guarding a wooden fence. Behind it was...Medli! She looked distressed, but could do nothing about the bars that were keeping her imprisoned. She, like the monsters, didn't appear to acknowledge Link's presence. Personally, he was surprised she even got this far, though.

Link's thoughts were quickly disrupted as a gate dropped behind him, closing off the only escape. At this, the bokoblins quickly focused their beady eyes on the intruder.

The signs of a mini boss fight were all present, but for a moment Link didn't believe it. This was way too easy. Only two bokoblins? It was almost an insult. Link couldn't dwell on it long though, as they both scuttled for Link.

Since Link already had pictographs of them, Link didn't need his pictobox. He just had to focus on not getting overwhelmed by the two enemies who were attacking at the same time.

They both screeched and brought their weapons up before slashing down at Link. So Link took this opportunity to use a spin attack on them. Both of them flew back, their machetes falling from their grasps. Link knew that even without weapons the imps would attempt to fight hand-to-hand with him. He dashed to the closer one and unleashed a series of attacks on it. The bokoblin was defenseless against his attacks and crashed onto the ground. Again, Link felt a weird urge and his hand went to a pocket. But Link controlled himself this time and kept his guard up, so when the bokoblin managed to get up again Link slashed it one more time to end it.

Unfortunately, his exchange with this bokoblin gave more than enough time for the other one to recover, regain his weapon, and run up and cut Link, much to his surprise. Link's back was hurt, but the boy managed to turn around and raise his shield just in time to block the next blow. Link saw a precious opening and jumped high in the air, readying himself for the jump attack. It connected, and with the monster disoriented, Link did a series of attacks. He didn't even complete his attack series when the monster exploded into purple dust, leaving behind a red heart that flitted through the air before landing on the ground.

Link panted as he tried to recover after the skirmish. He had long stopped wondering why or how the heart could appear after an enemy would be defeated and was about the walk up and collect it when a new surprise flew through the air.

A Kargaroc flapped its wings heavily to accommodate for the weight of the Moblin it was heaving. Link, with dread, recognized this type of monster almost immediately. It was the one who patrolled the halls of the Forsaken Fortress, the one Link had to be quite careful with. However, Link's experience with avoiding them did help him a little. He remembered how dumb and unwary they were, never noticing a barrel that would move. Although there were a few close calls, the Moblins never discovered Link unless he made very big, obvious moves.

The bird clumsily flew around the arena once before letting go of the monster, right in front of Link. It looked just like he remembered. It had small eyes on its pig head, and its ugly snout protruded from its head. Its mouth hung open, revealing its large jaws and teeth. Around its meaty neck was a large orange necklace with a skull in the center. Its skin was a strange dark turquoise color. It had burly arms, and its hands were wrapped around a large spear. Its wore orange trousers, and its legs were incredibly short.

Link didn't believe that he had gotten a picto of this yet. He whipped out his pictobox and was about to take a pictograph of it when the Moblin raised his spear and swung it in a big circle on the ground.

_That spear has a huge range!_ Link thought as he turned on his heel to avoid the attack. He saw the heart from earlier. It was blinking, meaning it was about to disappear, so he quickly ran up to it and collected it. As he felt it heal himself to full health, he turned back to his opponent.

He yelled as he charged at the Moblin. He went for a vertical cut, but was shocked to see the monster block it easily with the shaft of his weapon. The monster was on the defense. So Link tried a jump attack. This was much more effective, as it knocked the weapon from its grip and sent it sprawling. Link ran to it, preparing to deliver the death blow.

However, the Moblin just got back on its feet. Then, it delivered a massive punch that sent Link flying into the air before smashing into the ground.

Link's head was spinning as he slowly got to his feet. Never had he felt anything so powerful! Now _this_ was the real mini boss. Link had severely underestimated this monster's power. As of the moment, it was running for its spear. Link suddenly remembered about taking pictographs of monsters. Weakly, he snapped a picto of the Moblin as it turned around to face Link. Now he was free to murder the thing.

When the Moblin saw Link, he charged at him faster than he'd expected. However, Link sprinted back at him, ready to fight back. Link tried a series of vertical slashes again. The first few were batted away by the shaft of the spear, but the other ones succeeded in harming it. It showed no response to being injured, so it tried to push Link away with the shaft again. Link tried a spin attack, which did end up hurting the Moblin, but it didn't seem to be affected much. Then, the Moblin raised its spear, and swept Link off his feet.

Link was seriously injured by now, so he had to retreat from the duel. He slashed at some pots and found precious hearts in it. When he healed up, he returned to fight the enemy. Why didn't it die already? Any other monster would have died by now.

He did the same as before: slash, slash, uppercut, spin attack. Link could tell that his enemy was getting worn down. It tried to sweep him again, but Link knew its fighting style. It mostly stayed on the defensive, using the shaft of the weapon to stop attacks. It would push Link away, then use a sweep attack. If it was on the ground, it would get up and punch. So as the spear descended, Link crouched and held up his shield.

The spear slicing the air made a loud whoosh sound before it met the shield with a dull thud. Link was pushed back, but unharmed. With a loud cry, Link jumped and slammed the blade into the monster.

The Moblin flopped onto the ground. Link back pedaled, not wanting to be attacked, but the enemy finally died. In its place stood a glowing ball. Unbeknownst to Link, the gates to the entrance and Medli's cell also rose.

Link studied the curious-looking orb. He couldn't seem to pick it up, so he broke it open with his sword. Treasure burst from it. As Link collected the rupees, and some hearts to replenish his health, he came across the skull necklace. He decided that it was the spoil from Moblins, so he kept it in his spoils' bag.

Then he noticed Medli. He ran up to her. She was delighted to see Link. After thanking him for rescuing her, she told him what she had discovered.

"Some creature from the mountain is doing something terrible to the great Valoo's tail!" Medli exclaimed. "That's why he is so angry!'

Link was mildly surprised that his guess from earlier was correct. He had also vaguely noticed in his fights Valoo roaring loudly and wildly thrashing from time to time.

"The monsters who captured me may have something to do with it," Medli concluded. "So here, take this. It's what I used to get this far. It's called a grappling hook. You can use it to escape." After briefly explaining how to use it, Medli ran out, shouting that she was going to tell her people what was happening.

The grappling hook was basically a rope with a metal hook on one end. Still, it felt familiar in Link's calloused hands. He threw the hook out, and caught it back in his hands with the rope. Then he looked at a ledge. Attached to a wall near the ledge was a stake. Link looked at the stake and back at his grappling hook. This was going to be very, very useful...

Author's note: I was planning to write the boss and mini boss fight in one chapter, but this was way longer than I'd thought it would be, so the boss fight will be on the next chapter.


	3. Falling Rocks

As Link stood outside of the large door, he mentally prepared himself. _I can do this. I've mastered the grappling hook. I'll be fine._

Much to his annoyance, he couldn't remember the boss at all. But he did remember the the theme for every boss fight. The special weapon or item he gained from the dungeon would always be the weakness of that particular boss.

Thus, Link spent extra time practicing with the grappling hook. It didn't take a long time though, since Link had used it before, and now it just felt natural. The only problem was that it wasn't really a weapon. When he used it on some bokoblins, he found that it snagged their Joy Pendants rather than harming them. In doing so, he realized that in earlier battles with these monsters his hand would always fly to his pocket because he would always steal their spoils before killing them. But it just wasn't much of a weapon at all.

Waiting outside the door made Link too jittery. So, pulling out the boss key, he slid it in the keyhole and turned it. The lock immediately twisted twice before the chains dropped, allowing Link passage to the boss room. Link wondered what the boss would be. A giant Moblin? A huge horde of bokoblins? A monstrous red Chuchu?

It was none of the above. All Link saw was a round pool of bubbling magma in the center of the room, some blue pots along the walls of the round room, and some oddly placed wooden platforms high up on the walls, resembling fungi on the truck of a tree.

Then, directly above the lava was a red, scaled tail. Valoo's tail!

Suddenly, the entire room shook; Link swayed unsteadily on his feet. He had a feeling the shaking wasn't coming from Valoo this time. The door slammed shut, signaling that Link wasn't leaving anytime soon.

Before his eyes, from the magma rose a tremendous scorpion-like creature. It was like the mother of all magtails. It had thick bio-armor that made it immune to the boiling magma. It had two massive front claws with sharp pincers. The bright magma glowed and caused the boss to look golden-orange.

The only part of it that wasn't encased in its natural armor was its single eye. Its irises were teal and the pupil was a bright purple. Its mouth was a perfect circle, with sharp teeth lining it.

The monster screeched and threw its head back, spewing hot streams of fire from its mouth. It then slammed its pincers into the ground by Link. The impact made Link hit the ground.

Any other person would have tried to flee. But the boy was not daunted. The entire Rito tribe, its prince, and Valoo depended on his courage to defeat the boss, not to mention his beloved sister. Though to be honest, he wasn't expecting to have to fight creatures such as this to rescue Aryll. Also, he was determined to just survive and get the pearl. The Rito weren't exactly his first priority.

Link slowly got up and faced the boss. He was already in his battle stance, his blade at the ready. He glared at it, and the boss stared back with its one eye.

The battle commenced.

-  
Link learned the scorpion's attacks really quick. It tended to slam a pincer down on Link, which he would have to narrowly dodge every time. Link tried to slash at the pincer, but its armor protected it from his blows. Next, he tried to throw the grappling hook at the eye, which was the only vulnerable part of the beast (as it is with most monsters, Link noticed). But whenever he did that, the eye would just close. Link was at a loss.

A pincer came crashing down. Link hopped to the side as stabbed hard into the ground right where Link was standing a moment ago. As the monster tried to pull its claw out of the ground, Link decided now would be the best time to take a picto, since it couldn't attack him at the moment. Also, he had no clue what to do anyway, so he might as well take some pictos. But each picto was blurry, since it kept moving so much.

The monster finally wriggled its claw out of the ground and towered menacingly over the boy. Now that it was standing upright, Link tried another picto. When he saw it though, it was kind of off center, so he tossed it and tried again. The next attempt was a lot better. The monster was too big for the entire body to fit, even if Link pressed himself against the wall. But Link had gotten a picto of its eye, its claws, and most of its body.

Link also noticed how when he was about to take the picto, it was clear, but when he took the actual picto, the image shrunk a tiny bit and blurred slightly. He tried it on a clay pot nearby. When he took the picto, the pot had shrunk just a tiny bit in the image and blurred a little. So when he took the picto of the boss, it too shrunk a little as well.

The monster stabbed its claw downward again. Link moved away just in time. "Hold still, will ya?" Link muttered. "I need a good picto of you." Each time he took a picto, if it wasn't satisfactory, he would have to erase it and risk replacing a decent one with a worse picto, since the pictos of the bokoblin and the Moblin from earlier took up slots in the pictobox. Every time Link took a picto of the boss, he noticed at the very top the tip of Valoo's tail hanging down from a small layer of dried magma on the ceiling. The end of the tail was hook-like, and it resembled quite a bit like his grappling hook.

_That's it!_ Link realized. He was starting to remember how he'd defeated the boss before. So he started with the first step of the plan. He held his grappling hook and prepared to throw it. The monster was already anticipating it and closed its eye, but Link wasn't aiming it at its eye. He was aiming for the tail.

It took a few tries. The first time the tail moved out of the way, so the hook grasped onto empty air. The second time, the tail twitched again out of the way. The third time Link already knew he was going to miss so he pulled it back before it went far. Finally, it caught on. Link started swinging on the rope, high above the boss.

With each swing, Link could hear Valoo bellowing in protest. The force of the tail moving left and right was shaking the bedrock and making it loose. The scorpion looked above and tried to bat Link out of the air, but to no avail. Finally, Link let go and jumped off, the rope trailing behind him. He landed on a wooden ledge and coiled up his rope.

He turned around to see the second part of the plan go in motion. The layer of bedrock plunged right on top of the scorpion's head. The impact of it made the eye rattle on its head and its armor crack. The enraged beast shrieked and struggled under the weight of the rock before it managed to ram it back onto the ceiling and send tremors throughout the room. Link noticed that the tail was gone. Smoldering rock and magma showered down. Link did his best to avoid getting burned.

The tail returned. Link smashed some pots that were on the ledge and collected some hearts to heal up. Then, he tried again. It was a lot easier this time for the hook to grab onto the tail. He swung and landed on a platform on the other side. The rock landed again on the monster. Miraculously, it didn't break. The armor of the boss cracked some more, but otherwise remained intact. Wailing, it heaved and pushed it back on the wall. Link was safe on the ledge from the steaming debris and the monster's attacks.

This was getting easy. It was almost boring. Link hadn't been hurt since he figured out the trick whereas the beast had taken quite a beating. It was just a little frustrating that the armor hadn't been destroyed. After he saw that the rock was back on the ceiling, he threw out his grappling hook on Valoo's tail for the third time and swung.

Sadly, when he let go, he landed short and fell into the pit of magma. He yelped and frantically hopped onto land again. But the bedrock did its job and crashed onto the enemy. From it resounded a screech worse than nails on a chalkboard.

This time, the livid beast crumbled the troublesome rock into fragments once and for all. With it, his natural armor was also reduced to dust. The monster was half-mad by now and refused to take its eye off Link. Furious, it breathed out some flames at Link.

Link did not expect that, since it hadn't used that attack on Link at all for the entire battle, so he was scorched. Thinking fast, he rolled away to escape the next barrage of flames and to roll out the fire on him. Then, the boss stuck both its claws into the ground. It's massive head was at the edge of the pool and was only about two feet from Link.

Link took this as an opportunity to slash its eye. So he did, but not without also falling in the magma. Both of them were hurt and took some time to recover from their wounds. But the monster was faster, and wildly shot out more flames directly at Link. He caught on fire again and had to roll away from the berserk beast.

Link was quite injured and fatigued at this point, so he released a fairy he had trapped in the bottle Medli had given him. It circled around Link and restored his health and energy before disappearing. With his strength renewed, Link tried a different tactic. He threw the grappling hook at the eye, even though he knew it didn't work before. This time, the monster didn't close its eye, so he was able to pull it closer. As it approached Link slashed and cut it as much as he could without falling into the hot pit. Surprised, the monster pulled back, so Link tried again. Right when he was about to drag the eye to him, its pincer stomped down on Link. Link was thrown back. The eye was close by again, glaring at Link.

So in desperation, Link tossed a nearby pot at its eye.

It shattered on it, and the monster flailed about, throwing its head back. It slowly stiffened up as it thrashed, until finally it completely stopped moving and dissolved into dust. The inhabitants of Dragon Roost Island would be troubled no more. All that remained of the beast was a gleaming large red heart with a blue outline. The magma cooled in patches until it all transformed into stone. In the center, the winds swirled around it and sparkles shot upwards where the winds met. A portal.

When Link registered that he defeated the enemy-with a pot, no less-he began hopping up and down in triumph. Then he froze, wondering if he needed separate pictos of the monster with and without its shell. That thought completely killed his mood. Either way, he knew it was too late, so he could only collect up the heart-feeling as if his life energy had increased-and leave via portal. Besides, he only had three slots on his pictobox anyway, so without looking behind, Link stepped into the portal to return to the world.


	4. Time Shifting

With Din's pearl securely in his grasp, Link made way for Forest Haven. But first, a little detour was in order. Link directed the wind west, so he could sail to Windfall Island, stopping only to chart the island between Dragon Roost and Windfall.

Link distinctly remembered a song for the Wind Waker that changed the time of day. It was called the Song of Passing. Link remembered only ever using it for speeding up time for figurine spamming. Carlov always needed a full day to craft his figurines, so Link would play it so he could unload his pictos and see them transformed into figurines in the blink of an eye. Link always wondered how the song worked. Did he time travel twelve hours into the future? Was everyone affected by the song, or just Link? Either way, it made collecting figurines a lot easier for Link.

When he arrived, he let his fuzzy memory guide him. He found himself atop the cliff where a man danced in front of a gravestone. Creepy. The boy couldn't help but wonder if the man was stable. Nevertheless, Link decided to speak to the man.

The man pranced about in front of the grave, mumbling to himself, "That magical dance that changed night into day and day into night...oh I just wish I knew the rhythm!" He didn't notice Link at all, though he couldn't tell if it was because he was so absorbed in his dancing or if because it was nighttime.

Link sighed and stood in front of the man, holding the magic baton in his left hand. He started conducting. Not any particular song, just a few beats in three-four time. The man noticed Link and the baton and heard the rhythm.

"Uhm, uhm, cha! Uhm, uhm, cha!" The man repeated with it. "That's it! That's it!" Link took a step back just in case, but the man meant no harm. "That's the rhythm I've been waiting for! I can feel it, dude." With that, the man suddenly started dancing. Keeping the rhythm in mind, he extended his left arm to the left, then thrust his arm to the right, followed with three pirouettes, and then jabbed downwards toward ground with the same arm. All the while he was chanting "Yeah, yeah, (pause), WHOO!" along his moves.

It took Link a slow moment to realize that his moves were the notes of the song. Link, seeing four moves, switched to four-four time. ...Left...right...center...down...

Nothing happened. So Link stubbornly did it again. Nothing.

So he stopped and watched the man demonstrate it to him again. Then Link realized the song was in three-four time! Why else would he make such a big deal about three-four time? But there were four moves...that meant that one move was extraneous.

Link first tried left, right, center. When that didn't work, he became certain it was left, right, down. When he tried that, something deep within his Wind Waker seemed to resonate. Link jumped in jubilation at having learned the song. He left the cliff, hearing the man fume in the distance about why he couldn't do the song.

As he boarded his ship, he played the Wind's Requiem to change the direction to southeast. He again only stopped to chart any unknown islands.

However, Link wasn't paying much attention to where he was going, so he started drifting too much south. He didn't see anything on the horizon, with was rather strange. Whenever he was in an island's quadrant, he could usually see a silhouette of the island. But there was nothing here.

Suddenly, the King of Red Lions stopped. This was very unusual. He never stopped unless he was introducing Link to an important island. But there was no land here.

"Link, we must stop," he said. "It is too early for you to be here. Something ancient and powerful rests here. We must turn back."

With that, the boat turned back. Link tried to go and see what was so special, but the King of Red Lions refused. So Link had to steer the boat east and continued his journey to Forest Haven. However, Link couldn't help looking behind him and trying to solve the mystery of what was so important about that place. The sky began to light up and announce the arrival of daytime. It began to sing of dawn, and the waves began to churn their familiar bold tune.

When he got to a peculiar pair of islands called the Eastern Triangle Islands, Link stopped to boat and looked at the sea chart. From here, Link was supposed to go directly south. So commanding the winds to blow there, Link put up the sail and continued journeying on.

As night fell, Link was just passing through Bomb Island and resting his eyes when he felt the temperature sharply decline. The sea here behaved differently than usual, and the sky was especially dark. He knew it wasn't just from night, so then what was it? He opened his eyes and looked straight ahead to see a ship. Link's eyes widened as he realized that he ship was see-through, like a ghost. Blue balls of fire dotted the ship. Link wanted to run it through, just to see what would happen. But as he approached, it vanished into thin air. Strange.

Link was relieved when daylight came. He looked on and saw some...trees? In the ocean? As they drew closer, Link realized the islands just seemed like giant trees, with greenery covering them. Rather than docking at the bigger island, Link steered it a little westward and ignored the King of Red Lions's protests. When they got to a little isle, Link stopped the boat and began climbing up the tall golden ladder, which was already there for him.

He hoisted himself up. As he looked around, he thought, _This place hasn't changed at all_. Patches of grass littered the ground, and a few trees towered above him. A small wooden sign waited by the entrace, introducing the gallery to newcomers. Taking a long look around him, he jumped into the big hole where the entrance of the gallery was.

Link was so anxious that he didn't bother with pleasantries. He was all business. When he arrived, Link simply walked up to Carlov and silently handed him the picto of the bokoblin from the Forsaken Fortress. Link stood nervously, wondering if he'd take it or not. After analyzing the picto, Carlov accepted it and announced that he would craft it and put it on display tomorrow. Link nodded and smiled, and stepped into the exit. It was a portal that brought him back up to the top of the isle.

When he was back outside, Link jumped up and down and laughed, feeling very happy that he would finally see a figurine in the "Boss and Mini-Boss" room. No more having to hear stuff like "two rooms to the right...MY right of course". No more having to figure out where figurines where located.

Fishing out the Wind Waker, he played the Song of Passing. A moment later, the day turned dark and the moon reigned in the sky. He played it again, and soon the sun shone from high in the clouds.

Link hopped into the portal and practically barreled to Carlov's counter. The man told him that he was done and that "it was a jewel of a figurine", but Link was hardly paying attention. Then, Carlov said, "It's located..."

"Right across from you, I know, sir," Link said quickly as he turned and was about to sprint for that room. But then, Carlov started cracking up. Between laughs, he said, "Actually, it's three doors to the left...MY left of course!"

When Link heard that, he stood dead still. Then, "WHATTT?!"

Link ran back to Carlov's counter. "But that was a mini-boss! The first one ever, in fact!"

Carlov simply shook his head. "Those monsters are rather common, not to mention relatively easy to defeat, so they go in the common monsters room."

Link was furious upon hearing this. All his work had been for nothing. And what did Carlov know about fighting monsters, anyway? Growling and mumbling to himself, he took out the other pictos from the pictobox and was about to tear them into shreds. But then, he heard Carlov shout, "WAIT!"

"What?" Link answered, not even trying to hide the annoyance in his tone. The hand holding the pictos was clenched up and threatened to wrinkle and ruin them.

"If you want figurines for that room," Carlov gestured to the room across from them. "That one would be perfect!" Link looked down and saw the blurry picto of the scorpion boss. "Of course, I'd need the picto to craft it."

"Okay!" Link shouted as he slapped it down on his wooden counter, his brief tantrum forgotten. Then he hurled himself into the portal to go outside and speed up time. He barely heard Carlov yell, "Wait Link, don't you want to see the figurine of yesterday's picto?"

When it was the next morning, Link arrived and spoke to Carlov. The figurine man already knew what the boy wanted to ask, so he just said, "It's done. It's in the room across from-"

"YES!" Link hollered as he darted for the door. Inside, the eighteen stands were empty...except for one. Link dashed up to it and studied the figurine. Now that he wasn't surrounded by red-orange walls and magma, he could see that the boss's shell was actually silver. It didn't look nearly as intimidating now, since it was mini-size.

He read the description for it. Its name was Gohma. Link wondered how Carlov knew this. Maybe he just made it up.

At any rate, he continued to read the description. It described Gohma and gave tips on how to defeat it. "This enormous shelled insect dwells in areas of lava and magma. The only way to destroy its hard bio-armor would be to drop a sheet of bedrock on it."

_Well, that was kinda useless_, Link thought. _I already know how to kill it. I wouldn't be here right now if I didn't. Well at least this was an impressive first figurine._ For obvious reasons, Link didn't want to consider the bokoblin a figurine. He refused to see it.

Link went back to the main room, where Carlov was waiting. He handed him the picto of the Moblin, which he took and promised to make into a figurine by tomorrow. Link went back up the portal and into fresh air.

After conducting the Song of Passing twice, he returned to Carlov, who again told him that the figurine was located right across from him.

Link easily found the figurine; it was nearby Gohma. The statue looked much more like the ones at the Forsaken Fortress. It carried its usual spear and a lantern in the other hand. Its description read: "These powerful enemies swing their spears with great ease. They've knocked Link around with that attack many times."

Link agreed with that, recalling those times where he was knocked to the ground with that move. _At least I figured out how to fight a Moblin now._

All in all, Link was very proud of his two figurines. He stayed there all day, looking at the figurines and reading the notes and comments until the sun finally set on its own.


	5. Deranged Butterfly

Like Dragon Roost Cavern, the Forbidden Woods were poorly lit, Link noted. He wondered if all dungeons were like this. Link found that he preferred this one over the other, if only because of the lack of heat. What Link didn't like was having to be launched out of Boko Baba buds and flying about with the Deku Leaf. At first it were fun, but then Link learned the hard way about falling from great heights. His legs ached as he recollected those experiences.

Crossing the foliage, Link arrived at a door and entered. As soon as he walked in, he turned around when he heard some bars slamming down in front of the door. He was trapped in the room.

Nothing was ahead of him though. With a cautious expression on his face, Link took a few slow steps out the doorway. He didn't have to travel far for his expression to morph into confusion. Green glowing dust drifted down in front of him. _Is this...pixie dust?_ He looked above to try to pinpoint the source of it. And he found it all right.

Its large, luminous wings were folded up against it. Its leaf antennas swayed with the wind. If there was wind in the room. That was all he could tell, though. It was alive and awake, Link concluded.

Then the thing quickly sped off the wall it was resting on and swooped down at Link before rushing forward, leaving behind a trail of destruction.

Without a second thought, Link drew out his sword. He quickly traded it for a pictobox when he saw how easy it would be to take a picto of it. It liked to fly high above Link and hover there for a brief moment. That's when he took the pictographs.

Now that he had three empty slots, he used them to his advantage. His first picto was slightly blurry, but good. It captured the entire body. The second one clipped off a small part of its right wing. Link examined them to see what he was fighting. It appeared to be...well a butterfly. A huge, mutant butterfly with green glowing wings.

That was all he had time to think though, since it suddenly dove down at Link. He had no time to dodge, so he got knocked down into the grass. _Ugh, this is just like with the Moblin!_ To Link's amusement, the butterfly's attack also destroyed some grass. Rupees and healing hearts were revealed in the clearing where the grass once grew.

The butterfly once again fluttered high in the air. Link snapped a third picto of it. It a very sloppy picto, so he erased it and retook it. _Better_, Link amended when he saw the picto. _But not by much_.

The butterfly thing dive bombed him again. Link barely had time to raise his shield. But somehow, his shield held. Sure he slid back some, but he was unharmed. He had to figure out a way to defeat the thing, now that he was done with the pictos.

It fluttered in the air again. It was too high, even higher than the reach of his jump attack. So what could he do? How could he stop it?

The insect dove down again. Link rolled away just in time. Its leathery wings brushed against him. _Hmmm... Those wings catch the wind well. But it's not like I can play the Wind's Requiem here. Maybe I can blow some wind in here somehow?_

Link was about to dismiss the idea, but he realized, _That's it! Incapacitate it by stopping its wings with the Deku Leaf! That's what it needs to fly and move, anyway._

The next time it did its dive attack, Link ran out of the way. He was beginning to think that it was the monster's only attack. As the monster soared up, Link took out his Deku Leaf and fanned it in the direction of the beast.

The gust of wind disturbed the butterfly's balance. It furiously flapped its wings, trying to find purchase in the air, but Link flapped the leaf again. It couldn't fight it off, so it slowly drifted to the ground on its back, its dead wings slowing down its plummet.

Link wasted no time dashing over and stabbing it with his sword. It screeched and picked itself up. Now it was furious. With renewed strength, the butterfly picked itself up and started flying again, right above Link.

Link was just about to send more wind to the monster, but it had some new tricks to use. Link was not expecting a barrage of morths to rain down on him. The annoying prickly things hopped onto Link and clung onto him. While they didn't hurt him, they considerably slowed him down. Link growled as he had to focus his attention on these things. He killed them with a spin attack, but his lapse in attention was enough for the monster to score a hit on Link with the dive bomb move. Then it hovered right in front of Link.

Link couldn't lift his leaf; the thing was at point blank. Its single eye glared at Link. _Hm, maybe its eye is its weakness. Just like with all monsters. Should I try to attack it?_ The thought distracted him enough for the butterfly to snap its pincers down at Link. He twisted, but it still managed to nick his sword arm.

The beast was more troublesome than he'd thought. He thought the fight would be over already. Link had to kill it before it killed him.

Link went to collect some hearts in the destroyed grass to heal himself. Finally, the monster backed off, giving Link room to blow some wind at the monster. The thing was downed, so he mercilessly hacked at it. This time, its infernal wings came off, making it much less of a threat.

_Not so tough now, huh?_ Link thought as he ran after the scuttling insect. In defense, it sprayed some morths at Link, but he brushed them off by rolling around on the grass. Link tackled it down with a jump attack, but before killing it, he threw out his grappling hook at it. It came back with a jar of magic. _Huh. That's new. No spoils._

The beast tried to skitter away again, but Link sent some wind at the beast. The wind stunned it long enough for Link to kill it off with some slashes at its abdomen. _Huh. That's also new. I didn't have to attack its eye._

With Link's last blow, the monster tumbled onto the ground and laid there before deteriorating into black dust and exploding in a cloud of purple. Like with the last mini boss, a gleaming black pearl rested where the monster died.

Link broke it to find plenty of rupees, hearts, and magic. He was at his maximum for all three already, so he just ignored the treasure and took a look at his pictographs. The first one was great compared to the second and third picto. The second one cut off part of its wing, and the third one was quite off center. The first one was blurry and kind of small, but it was distinguishable. He threw out the other ones and kept the first picto.

Now all he needed from this dungeon was the item the butterfly guarded, another heart container, and a picto of the boss.

_Oh, and Makar. I didn't just forget about my main mission! Nope not at all! Hahaha..._


	6. Forgotten Task

The key twisted easily in the lock. The chains and lock clattered onto the floor. This time, Link didn't need to give himself a pep talk. He was so delighted to find that the treasure the mini-boss guarded was the boomerang. He remembered that it was one of his favorite weapons. It was not only versatile, but deadly as well. Now it was much easier to pass through the dungeon when he could throw the projectile to stun or kill enemies, collect items from a distance, and cut down grass and vines. He'd even left it sticking out of his pocket so that he could gain access to it quickly for the boss fight if need be.

Link had hardly entered when the door behind him closed shut. Though to be honest, he wasn't fazed by that anymore. In fact, he'd expected that.

The room he was in was much like the other boss room. It was small, circular, had thick earthy walls, and clusters of grass ringing around the chamber. In the center of the room was an innocent-looking massive five star blossom that seemed to glow blue. Basically, it was like Dragon Roost Cavern's boss room except Forbidden Woods themed.

Something in the middle of the flower was jumping. Link pulled out his sword, ready for the boss, but grinned when he saw it was Makar. He walked up to the Korok. When Makar saw the swordsman, he stopped hopping and calmed down, obviously delighted to see a rescuer.

Unbeknownst to Makar, a small purple plant head (that was mostly mouth) atop a green stem appeared from the center of the blossom and loomed behind Makar. On its head were a few long antenna-looking things that stuck up straight into the air. Link immediately nicknamed it Bulb. It looked like a Boko Baba plant, except its head was way smaller and it had a different color theme.

_Aww...it's so cute! It's even wiggling on its stem!_ Those were Link's thoughts until he saw Bulb viciously swallow Makar whole. Then, Bulb's mouth made an unsettling chattering noise, like an evil plant laugh combined with a rabid squirrel. Link hastily jumped off the plant after that. _Well, at least it's not an annoying screech._

Just as he got off, all the petals of the monstrous flower began writhing on the ground until they all finally folded up in the middle into a big indigo bulb. _Whoa whoa whoa not cute not cute not cute!_

At the top of the bulb, many tentacle-like vines sprouted from it and reached up for the ceiling. (They weren't tangled in one thick rope, they were spread intonation made a circle shape on the ceiling.) They firmly latched onto the ceiling and lifted the plant off the ground. From the bottom of the plant, its vicious snake-like roots shot out in all directions. They had sharp barbs on the ends of them.

_So the monster reveals its true colors. Dang, _Link thought as he reached for his sword.

Link was considering taking a picto of it, since it was stationary, but the roots burrowed into the ground and lashed out where Link stood. This greatly surprised the boy, and he soon had scratches everywhere. Everywhere he stood, he found that if he didn't quickly move, the roots would go after him. Link had to be on his toes. All he focused on at the moment was moving right, always avoiding the attacks. But it got him nowhere in terms of defeating Bulb.

_So how do I defeat this thing?_ Link had a feeling his Deku Leaf wouldn't do much here. But his hand itched for the boomerang. Link already figured that attacking the bulb would be futile. Same with the attacking roots. So, the only vulnerable part would be...

Link looked up and smiled. _The things that keep it on the ceiling._

He aimed for the vines. It managed to sever five vines, but the rest were still suspending the monster in the air. Then, a root slammed onto him. _Owwww._

But seeing the boomerang destroy the vines gave Link a sense of satisfaction. He figured he was going in the right direction. Link tried killing off more vines while moving out of the way from attacks. Again, he cut off five vines.

Link figured he'd have to hurry. Urgently, he threw his boomerang at the ten remaining vines, watching eagerly to see how many vines would be left with each throw.

Finally, they were all cut down. As it fell, the bud fell open, revealing the head. Link rushed in, his hands on the pictobox. Yes, the pictobox. He tried to take a picto of the actual monster, not its bulb. So Link took it out...

To see that it was just too big to fit in the frame of the pictobox. Link figured he was too close to it. He didn't even bother taking the picto. Suddenly, the plant's petals closed up, with Link trapped in them.

Link wondered if this was what it was like to be eaten. It was very dark and slimy in the monster's clutches. The flower convulsed, like he was being chewed up. Twisting around like this in the dark made Link dizzy and disoriented. It was not fun.

Then, he got spat out. He landed, dazed on the ground. Being chewed up took a lot out of him. Link hefted himself off the ground to repeat the process of bringing the monster down-literally.

But first, he needed to heal himself. Cutting down some shoots of grass, Link took some hearts. Then, he resumed with the fight and the arduous task of slicing off each and every vine.

After a lot of effort and patience, Link toppled the plant. It slumped to the ground, cracking open the flower. Link rushed up to it with the pictobox to see that he was too close again! Link tried backing up, but by then, the monster closed its jaws-er, petals.

Link suffered being chewed up again until he was once again he erupted from the plant with a spray of purple goop. He sat up, trying to find his sense of direction._You know what? Screw it, I'm going to need to weaken it first before I take any pictos._

Bulb was feeling quite satisfied, knowing that it was slowly defeating the intruder of the Forbidden Woods. But Link wasn't going to mess around this time.

Link started dispatching the vines. There was no rhyme or reason to the way he took them out. He just targeted any vines he saw and threw, while orbiting right to evade the roots' attacks. This proved to be a very bad plan. Since he moved around all the time, sometimes the boomerang would hit empty air in an attempt to return to its owner. So Link wasted a lot of time and energy. Soon, whenever Link destroyed the vines on the right side, the vines from the left would grow back, and vice versa. For each one he killed, another on the other side would grow back.

Link was beyond frustrated at this point. He could hardly think rationally anymore. But he was really exhausted, having to think and run around at the same time. So he took a break, leaning against the wall, only occasionally having to duck out of the way.

Link tried to think fast, knowing that his break would give Bulb time to recover as well. _Okay, maybe I should just start over and let them all grow back. I can't continue on this wild goose chase. And I've noticed that when I move, it changes where the boomerang travels sometimes. I could try to manipulate it to go where I want it to, which is where more vines are. Hmm..._

Link waited for the vines to all grow back. Then he tried this strategy. This time he actually focused on where the boomerang would hit. He aimed for five vines on the left and released. Keeping his eye on the boomerang, Link dashed right as fast he could without tripping. When it came back, it sliced through another one that had been in front of Link.

_Hmm... I don't really like this plan. It's not exactly reliable. Plus, this plan depends on where I stand and stuff. So then what can I do?_

Link was stuck, so he just continued with the original plan: killing each and every vine, five at a time. He found it was much easier when he circled around to where the vines were rather than staying in one place and trying to get them. Sometimes he couldn't reach the farther ones. Link hated having to move to a different spot just to get one or two measly vines and consequently waste time, but until he figured out a faster way, he had to do that.

Once again, Bulb plopped down. Link wasted no time striking the monster. It bobbed back and forth with each swing of his sword. In retaliation, the flower swallowed him before retching him back up. Link knew that he could always get healed by taking some hearts that were hiding in the grass, and for emergencies he had a fairy in a bottle, so he didn't mind being eaten as much as he normally would. But still, it was a sacrifice.

Link started destroying vines again. He killed off the five vines in front of him, each severed one oozing purple goo. Now there was an opening in the circle of vines. Link aimed for four on his, but before he let go, he suddenly swung around and aimed for the one vine closest to his right by accident.

But Link already let go. His eyes were glued to his boomerang. In the corner of his eye Link could see a barbed root about to smash him into the ground. Link crouched and ducked underneath his shield, and at the same time, witnessed something amazing.

The boomerang traveled left, getting each one, and rather than heading straight for that last stray vine he'd targeted, the projectile took a circular route to get there, effectively killing all the vines before slaying the last one on his right. In less than ten seconds, he had managed to topple the plant. _Uh, dang. How'd I do that?_

Link darted in and attacked it over and over again, trying to get as many swings as he could before Bulb closed up again. The plant didn't seem to give up, even after a volley of attacks from Link's blade. As expected, the plant chewed him up before spitting the boy out. As Link was being tossed and turned, he randomly wondered where Makar was during all this.

Link really wanted to figure out the trick to it. So he tried doing the exact same thing he did last time. He killed off five tentacle vines in front of him before targeting four on his left and one on the very right. It worked.

Bulb slumped to the ground in a heap, its petals opening. The head bobbed back and forth, releasing small chatters. Link threw the boomerang at it. _Shut up._

With Bulb silenced, Link whacked at it. Right as he delivered the last blow, something felt wrong.

_WAIT NO I FORGOT TO GET ITS PICTO!_

But it was too late. Bulb's head went flying up, spiraling as it went. It cried out in its weird high-pitched chatter. Then it flopped to the ground, hopping about helplessly before letting out a weird sound, like a hiccup.

Then it exploded into nothingness, leaving behind the heart container and Makar, sprawled out on the ground. Normally, Link would be overjoyed. But he had carelessly forgotten that one picto needed in his quest to figure out the stupid trick. The monster room would be complete-except for one stand, Link thought bitterly.

He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he only vaguely remembered the plant leaves writhing and stretching up before slowly wilting. A portal was made in the center of the dead flower. He hardly even remembered getting the heart container and shooting up the portal, with Makar right behind him. He only knew that he had missed his opportunity of a complete monster room. But some odd reason told Link to continue anyway. So he did with a heavy heart.


	7. Labeled Pictos

Carlov was so surprised when he saw Link descend to the gallery. Though he hardly saw the boy at all; he had shoved a picto right in his face.

"What's this?" The sculptor asked, taking it into his hands. "Oh, I see. It's a mothula, isn't it? Excellent work! It will be done by tomorrow. I must ask, where did you get this from?"

Link simply glared at him and stabbed a finger east, where the Forbidden Woods were.

"Oh, I see. You got it from that spire of overgrown weeds, eh? Out of curiosity, may I ask why were you there?"

"I was supposed to rescue someone there."

"Oh. I see that you were successful. Was there, by any chance, a dungeon boss?"

At this, Link sat down hard on the floor, defeated. "Yeah, there was, but I killed it before I got a good picto of it. I'm sorry. I know how much it meant for you to make figurines for the monster room, and I really wanted to complete it myself."

He looked like such a little kid, sitting on the floor, crossing his arms, and pouting. So Carlov asked him, "Well, why was it so hard to take the picto?"

"Because I got eaten up! Why else?" When Carlov heard Link's response, he visage turned into confusion. Link sighed and explained, "The boss was this gigantic plant bulb. These vines sprouted from near the top and stuck the bulb to the ceiling. It had these root things that would attack me. I would send it to the ground by slicing off each vine. When it fell, the bud would open up, revealing a monster's head in there. I tried to take a picto of the inside of the plant, where the monster head was. Then the bulb would close and and try to eat me. Anyway, I got so frustrated that I decided to weaken it first and then get a picto. But I forgot to do that."

"Oh," the figurine man said after hearing the lengthy explanation. "Well, chances are that you could have actually just taken a picto of the _outside_ of the bulb. I could probably make a figurine from there. Boss pictos are hard to get, and I know that. So don't stress yourself out trying to get a difficult one. Look for an easier way. And these are the three most important rules: be sure the subject is the center of the picto, the entire body is taken, and it has to be facing you when you take it. You got it?"

Link nodded. "Yeah, I know. But now the monster room won't be complete."

"Well, don't think you've disappointed me or anything like that. While I'd like it to be complete, I'm just the carver. You and the other members of the club are the ones who bring me the pictos." Carlov grinned.

"Oh!" Link cried.

"What? What?"

"Why don't I just describe it for you? You can draw it and then sculpt it!" Link exclaimed.

Carlov blanched. "Um, I don't think that's a good idea. But we can try."

He rummaged the back of the room for a paper and pencil. Then, he placed it back on the counter, pencil at the ready.

"Okay, so there was a huge plant bulb. It was purple, I think. These thin, green vines were on top. There were, like, twenty of them, at least."

Carlov quickly scribbled down the bulb and the vines. He wrote "purple" on the bulb.

"No wait! It was indigo!" Link shouted.

Carlov crossed out "purple" and wrote down "indigo".

"And wait, the sides were rounder. I think," Link added.

Carlov sighed and set down his pencil. "Link, I really can't draw." _And your directions are confusing!_ "This is why I need pictographs. Besides, I need to see the exact colors for my figurines."

Link stared at him. _Then how did you know what color Gohma was?_ "So you can sculpt, but you can't draw?"

"Yes. Now go, shoo!" Carlov said playfully. "I need to make the mothula. Come back tomorrow."

Link smirked. "Sure. But tomorrow might come sooner than you might expect." Then he left up the portal.

It seemed like only seconds had passed when Carlov had meticulously sculpted the mothula to perfection. He put the picto of it in the "used picto" pile. _Hmm, these pictos are taking up so much space. But I don't want to get rid of them, even if I don't need them anymore. What should I do with them?_

Carlov very carefully brought the figurine to the monster room, across from his desk. He opened the door, entered, and placed it on its pedestal. He made sure it was steady there.

_Oh shoot, I forgot the engraver. _Carlov returned to his desk and started searching. _Where is it? I thought I left it right here._

His eyes rested on the pictos. The pile was indeed large. Many of them were contributed by a boy in green that was also called Link. He'd certainly sent many pictos here, he thought. He grabbed the ones the blue-clad Link had taken, along with some tape and a pencil.

He first went to the Moblin and taped the picto on the other side, opposite of its inscribed description. Then, he wrote the date of when the figurine was made. Next, he went to Gohma and did the same. When he got to the mothula, he remembered he'd never found the engraver. So, on the back, he wrote the date and the description in pencil. He'd already memorized the Mothula's description from _The Figurine Man's Handbook._ It was a family heirloom.

"Mothula  
Habitat: Forbidden Woods  
Effective weapons: Projectiles of any kind, Deku Leaf

These large moths scatters scales in the air. Even using projectiles to clip its wings won't guarantee safety, since it can scurry around swiftly and release morths."

Afterward, he went to the common monsters room and taped the picto of the bokoblin on the side of the stand. In there, he heard a faint sound coming from above. _Oh, Link must be almost here!_ _Already?_ He hurried back to his place in the main room.

Just as he returned there, Link came to the gallery and walked up to the front desk. He looked very sleepy. "I've completed the figurine. It's located four doors to my left. My left, of course!" Carlov informed him.

Link glared at him. "What."

"I'm just kidding! It's across from me," Carlov answered. Link stomped there without another word. Carlov couldn't really blame his bad mood. He himself hasn't gotten much sleep either. It felt like the day had come so fast. _Eh, it's probably just me. It's not like time could speed up! But it's strange that whenever Link gives me a picto, time seems to speed up. Well, I guess I'm just really absorbed in my work!_


	8. Narrow Success

It was dark and dreary outside, not to mention rainy and cold. Link almost wished he didn't have to go back outside after the relative warmth of the bomb shop, where he hid on the top shelf with the barrels and pots. Or at least he tried to be stealthy; unfortunately, Tetra had seen him and winked, much to the boy's chagrin. At least he had also garnered some very valuable information. Like the pirate ship's password, for instance. It was "barnacle", as Niko had helpfully "whispered" to the big pirate that Link thought was named Gonzo.

Then the pirates all left with the bombs in tow. The bomb shopkeeper was left behind in the store, still trussed up and gagged. Link counted to ten, then jumped off the ledge where he had eavesdropped on the pirates. Link looked around. In front of him was the door, to his left was the man in the rope-cocoon, to his right was the wall, and behind him was the counter where the shopkeeper normally sat behind. The coast was clear.

Link decided to explore the back of the room first, barely listening to the cocoon's muffled protests. Link wanted to find some bombs as well, even if he didn't exactly have a place to put them. But there were none left for him. The pirates had pillaged them all.

In the very back of the building behind the counter were some nondescript barrels and crates. Link studied them for a moment, then picked a barrel up and threw it onto the ground.

It was quickly demolished. Out from it spilled a plethora of rupees. Link's eyes widened as he ran through it all, collecting the money. The shopkeeper squirmed and made strange squeaking sounds in protest, but Link barely noticed as he trashed the place to rob the money. Then, barely giving the shop master another glance, he calmly walked out the door.

The stinging rain brought him back to his senses. _Poor guy. He gets robbed of his goods and his profit. _But Link had a sneaking suspicion that for the guy to have that much money, he must have robbed other people. So Link figured that it was okay to take some of it back. _Oh my gosh I'm like Robin Hood! Just kidding I don't even have a bow._

Anyway, Link made his way to the inconspicuous, poorly-docked pirate ship and jumped aboard. Nothing happened. No one was there. Quiet as a mouse, he looked around, but nothing was there. _Hmm...they wouldn't need a secret password for anything except for..._

Link knocked loudly on the door that led to the interior of the ship. A boyish voice rasped something that Link guessed was supposed to be menacing. "What can-" was all he heard, for at that moment thunder boomed and the rain increased, heavily beating on the wood.

Link just responded with "Barnacle". Hopefully that was the answer to the question or riddle or whatever it was that the pirate had asked. He was certain that it was the secret password, at least.

The voice paused. Then, trying to hide its surprise, it asked, "Yeah? Then spell it."

_Wait... is that Niko? Ugh, just let me in already. It's "your swabbie"._ Link sighed in frustration, and tracing the letters of the word on his right palm, snapped, "B, a, r, n, a, c, l, e."

"Excellent. You may enter!" Niko chirped, and unlocked the door. Following that, Link could hear someone scampering down the steps. Link twisted the doorknob and strode in.

Link passed Tetra's private chambers, though no one was guarding it. He blushed as he momentarily considered entering it. Link then quickly made his way down the steps into the storage chamber.

The room was much as Link remembered. Lanterns dangled down from swaying ropes high above the floor. There were the large yellow switches that would only lower if he hopped onto them. But the room was also different somehow.

Niko tore the boy's attention from him by shouting, "Hey! It's Link, my old swabbie! You're alive!"

_Naw, I'm a ghost._ "Of course I'm alive, why would you think I wasn't?" Link replied.

"Everyone else said that you were done for by that monster-bird back in the Forsaken Fortress, so... But that doesn't matter! You're here now! You know, because you wanted to be my swabbie again, right?"

"Sure," Link said, but he was hardly heard as Niko informed him, "Well, after you left, I went back to being the bottom rung of the ladder. That's why I'm here now, while all the other pirates are in town, eating and having fun... But, I guess since you came back for me, that ought to make up for us being stuck here!"

Us? Link was starting to think he had no purpose here, but when he turned to walk back up the stairs, Niko shouted, "Wait, swabbie! Didn't you come to see me? I'm over here! And, I have a new test for you."

Link sighed and faced the pirate again. "Good! Now here is the challenge. So, like last time, there are lanterns hanging down from ropes that you used to get to that end of the room. You remember how last time when you pressed the switch, there was platforms for you to land on? Well this time, there aren't any!"

Link looked around. So that's what was missing. As Niko had pointed out, there wasn't any platforms, only crates and barrels stacked up into heaps under some of the ropes.

"So," Niko continued. "This means you gotta jump from one rope to another! Pretty tough, huh? So watch and learn!" He demonstrated it for Link.

He jumped from one rope to another. Link noted how he would stop and turn the rope so he could jump to another. He also noticed that the ropes seemed to move sometimes, swinging back and forth and sliding left and right. Weird.

Niko took a very long time. Often, he took breaks to catch his breath, and at times he swung excessively. Meanwhile, Link grew bored and glanced around the room. _Hmm, there doesn't appear to have stakes on the wall for my grappling hook. I guess I could use my Deku Leaf..._

"Hey Link, you listening?" Niko called from across the room. Link looked up, startled. Somehow, Niko actually made it to the other side. "There's another catch to it," he said. "This time, I installed a gate here." Niko gestured behind him at the metal gate and chuckled evilly. Or tried to.

It was all Link could do not to burst out laughing. _Niko must have wasted so much time and resources for that lame door. A gate's not going to stop me! And Niko's squeaky cackle needs some work_. Though Link didn't hate Niko, Link didn't exactly respect him that much either.

Niko saw through Link's effort to maintain a straight face. "Hey, I spent three month's worth of pay building this for you! It's not that easy to get that up there, you know!"

Link couldn't help it anymore. He started cracking up and was about to roll on the floor. Niko screeched, "Link! If you don't pay attention and fail the challenge, don't come crying to me!" Link calmed down a little. "As I was saying, the switch opens the gate, but if you don't get here in time, it closes and you gotta start over."

"Niko," Link began. "It's been, uh, great seeing you! But there's nothing here for me, I'll just leave now."

"Uhh," Niko scrambled for an answer. "Fine, swabbie! If you make it here in time and pass my test, I'll give you all the bombs we got in town!"

"Deal," Link stated.

"Whoa whoa whoa don't think I didn't see that, cheater!" Niko yelled after a moment. "Put down all your items and weapons!"

Link groaned as he laid down his sword and shield. He hadn't anticipated Niko catching him in the act of trying to take out his Deku Leaf. He really hoped that in the middle of his stupid task the pirates wouldn't barge in, pilfer his stuff, and leave him defenseless. He then put down his grappling hook, his Deku Leaf (he'd wanted to use it so bad!), his beloved boomerang, his bottle (with the fairy still in it), the sail, the Wind Waker, the telescope, and his pictobox-

"Wait, can I take a picto of you real quick?" Link blurted. He didn't exactly want a picto of Niko around with him, and obviously Niko was not a boss or mini-boss, but who knows when he'll get another chance to get his picto for another room? So before Niko could protest, Link faced him and pressed the button of the pictobox. Content with the picto, Link then set it down.

"What did you just do, swabbie?! You trying to blind me?" Niko yelled indignantly. He hadn't expected his time with his swabbie to be like this. Niko was supposed to boss him around, not the other way around! Hilariously, Niko's own gate slammed down and shut him in the small treasure room with the bombs.

"Nothing!" Link called. _Well, nothing you need to know. Besides, too much explaining._ "I'm going to try your challenge now, boss!"

"That's the way to go, swabbie!" Niko shouted back, forgetting about the pictobox.

Link took a deep breath. It sure felt strange without anything with him. He missed the familiar feel of his shield rubbing against his back. _Well, at least I'm lighter now._

Link jumped onto the switch. The gate creaked as it rose.

Link leaped onto the closest rope, straight ahead. He caught it and started swinging lightly, looking for another rope. The nearest one was to his northwest. He stopped swinging, turned his body until he faced it, and started swinging again. When he got to an adequate altitude, he released the rope with a yell.

He firmly caught onto that rope. He saw a different rope straight ahead, so with the momentum he gained from the jump, he immediately jumped again without pausing for another swing.

He grabbed onto that rope, but only barely, since it was one of those ropes that shifted left and right. He had to stop himself from swinging too much or else he'd crash into the wall. Then Link realized something. _Ugh, I didn't need to catch this one. Since the rope ahead also moves, I could have just caught that one instead. Well, too late._ Link stopped his swing and directed himself to the rope he was just thinking about. After swinging for a bit, Link jumped.

There was less of risk this time; boxes and crates were stacked up under the rope. But he clutched the rope anyway, so it didn't matter. However, he jumped so high he grasped the top of the rope. From the last time he was on this ship, he learned that being near the top meant he could swing faster, but would jump a much shorter distance.

So Link took the time to slip lower until he faintly could feel the lantern's heat through his boots, then faced the next rope on his northeast. Link was getting nervous now. He'd wasted a lot of time stopping and turning (although it was necessary), and especially with the extraneous rope. He had no time to lose.

Link began the tiring task of starting a swing. As he gained a steady swing, Link waited for the perfect chance. The ropes were swaying a lot now, and he didn't want to screw up, so he waited, and swung...

And jumped. Again, he paused to face the last rope. Almost there...

Link swung and swung for what felt like the hundredth time that night. At least the grappling hook had given him a lot of practice. He longed for that rope. It was much less prickly than these ropes. And easier to swing with.

When Link gained enough height, he let go and reached for the last rope. He gripped the middle of it and took an extra second to turn left make sure he was directly facing the platform where Niko was. Then he commanded his aching legs to start swinging.

Immediately, Link could tell that this last rope was longer than the others. It felt awkward and heavy, and it took all of his energy to get to a good rhythm. Link now wished he'd taken some time to catch his breath. He almost collided with the wall.

But he was running out of time. He swung back and forth harder, spending every last drop of strength he had on these final swings.

At its highest point, Link let go with a shout. As he looked down, horrible realization shot through the boy. He was too far up on the rope when he swung, so there was a good chance he would land short. And have to start over. It was weird though; Link didn't feel like he would land short when he was on the rope.

And he didn't. Link's feet hit the edge of the platform with a loud thud.

But then he slipped. Instinctively, he threw his arms up, and his sore hands latched onto the edge. Link's heart beat madly from the surprise fall. So he was surprised to find his hands rescued him. "Whoa!"

Tiredly, he climbed back onto the platform and after getting over the shock, he carefully walked up to Niko.

The pirate was nodding off. Link cleared his throat loudly.

"Oh! Uh, what? Whoa, Link!" Niko exclaimed. "You-you're done? Already?! You're incredible." After this, Niko started muttering to himself. It sounded like he said "...I've never even completed this...how did swabbie do it so quickly? And easily? If I give this to him, I'm busted."

Link cleared his throat again. Niko looked up, nervous. "Okay, swabbie, I guess you want your loot now. But don't tell anyone, got it? I'm serious!" he hissed. Then Niko stood outside the doorway, watching out for any pirates coming back.

Link threw open the treasure chest cover. He reached in, and pulled out...

A pillowcase. _What the heck?! Is this a joke?_ But as Link dumped out its contents, some bright blue bombs rolled out. _Ah, these are the bombs. At least they're not lit! I hope..._

The explosion that followed sent Link careening into Niko. He shouldn't have been surprised that Tetra yelled at him with the gossip stones either. But now Link wondered how he was going to tote around his pillowcase of explosives.


	9. Third Slot

Author's note: I think that winged Mothula's have a spoil, and it's a golden feather. I'm not sure though about non-winged Mothula's though. So sorry if I was wrong earlier.

If Link had known the room he'd barged in contained a mini-boss, he might have first gone in search for some hearts to heal himself. In a different chamber, there was a pink beamos in the very center of the circular chamber. It looked like a normal pedestal thing, except for the strange pink orb that orbited the top. Whenever Link had stepped onto its territory, the sphere would widen up into a huge ball. It would opened its "eye", as Link called it, and shoot a white-hot laser that could melt the floor. It would relentlessly chase Link around until he was either fried or until he jumped off the laser-zone. Link was so glad to have a shield sometimes.

Link had tried so many ways to defeat it. His first option was the boomerang. It zeroed in on the top of the pedestal. But when he threw it, it had harmlessly bounced off and returned to Link. So he tossed in a bomb. But when the smoke cleared out, it still stood. The grappling hook was an utter failure. Link hadn't even bother trying the Deku Leaf. So his last option was...

Link snapped a picto of it. It was rather easy, since it was immobile. Then, he'd done his best to skirt around the circle, though he didn't come out unscathed.

Now, the bars closed off the door of the room he was in. Link was trapped in a room with several stone pillars spread out in a loose circle. And in its center was a creature Link had never seen before.

Most times, mini-bosses were for introducing new, strong enemies to Link, and he was not unimpressed. The creature was tall and had a large figure. Thick silver plating covered it from head to toe. It even wore a menacing helmet with horns on either side of it. Its sword was grey, and it was the size of Link. The double edges looked jagged and heavy. Its belt stood out, since it was the only non-silver accessory he had. _Looks familiar..._

The creature (he decided to call it the knight), was still as a statue. Link almost took a step forward when it suddenly grunted. It had held its blade with the flat side showing, but when it noticed Link, it abruptly twisted its sword so that the sharp edge was facing him. It roared and swung its massive sword, just to show off its strength.

As with the beamos, Link threw his boomerang, his grappling hook, and some bombs at it, and as with the beamos, nothing happened. They harmlessly plinked off his armor except for the bomb, which had detonated out of range of the knight. _Guess my sword is my only hope now._

The knight approached Link and just waited with its sword raised high. Seeing that huge opening, Link tried some horizontal slashes and a spin attack. But like with everything else, it couldn't penetrate the knight's tough armor.

Now Link was open. The knight delivered a harsh blow that sent Link reeling to the ground. Link could hardly find the strength to get up. He briefly scanned the room. For the first time ever, there was no pots or grass that could sustain Link with the hearts they held. There were only pillars. Link was beginning to panic.

Link didn't even have a fairy anymore. He'd given it to Grandma, and... _Oh, YES! She gave me elixir soup! Awesome!_

The knight was advancing on Link. He quickly chugged some soup and felt his strength return to him. No wait...actually it felt as though he and his sword was twice as powerful.

The knight again just stood there. It wasn't exactly a defensive stance, or an offensive one. It just sort of raised its sword into the air and waited. _So is it a waiting stance?_

Link tried some vertical slashes and some thrusts, but each strike hardly left a dent in the armor. Then realizing the danger he was in, Link quickly brought up his shield as the sword came down.

Link skid back into a column, but was unharmed. A second slash came in quick succession, but it didn't land, since Link got knocked into the column, away from the mini-boss.

His enemy was faster than he'd thought. How can it move so fast? And in armor? But Link wasn't all that surprised at this. Ever since that Moblin in Dragon Roost Island, Link tried not to underestimate an enemy, especially if it was a mini-boss.

Link didn't have a particular strategy in defeating the knight. He thought back on his earlier experiences with mini-bosses. _With the bokoblins and the Moblin, I overcame them through strength. With the mothula, I used a item I already acquired._

But Link already tried using his items, and he already tried his sword. His only option left was to experiment with his other sword attacks.

He first tried a jump attack. He sprang at the enemy with his sword raised high. To his dismay, his powered-up sword harmlessly clanged off the armor, sending vibrations through his left arm.

Then the knight dished out a wide horizontal slash that pummeled Link to the ground by a pillar. He could feel the extra power in his sword die out. Wearily, he got up. He searched his mind for other attacks. He knew there were more. But what were they?

Link snapped out of his thoughts, since suddenly the pillar came crashing down. He narrowly jumped out of the way. Where the pillar once stood lay a sparkling recovery heart.

Link dashed for it and picked it up, feeling the sensation of instant healing. So that's what the pillars are for!

Unfortunately, the knight was marching up toward Link, fast. He hardly had any more time to recover and think up of a plan.

Link was tired of experimenting. He was certain that the enemy had to have an Achilles heel somewhere. It obviously wasn't in the front. But Link didn't know if it was back either, because he'd never seen it before. The knight kept it well protected; it always tried hard to face Link.

_Bingo. That just proves that its back is its weakness. But how do I get to it? I tried every move...except for the parry._

Link groaned inwardly. That was by far the hardest attack to learn. It was because there was two ways to use the parry attack, depending on the opponents' attacks. One way was to roll to the side and get behind him, then slash upwards. This was used if the opponent attacked up or downwards. The other way was if the attacker struck left and right. Link was supposed to jump over the adversary, strike downward, and flip over to the other side.

Doing all this wasn't the difficult part, though it was challenging at first. Timing it and deciding on the parry was the hard part. Often, by the time Link figured out what to do, it was much too late. As Orca had once commented, Link's reflexes were too slow or jittery. They'd only practiced this a few times, enough that Link understood the concept of it. But Orca had let Link go after that, saying that he most likely wouldn't find enemies in the Forest of Fairies that could only be defeated with the parry skill.

But now, Link needed this skill more than ever. He wished now he hadn't neglected this move, and that he'd practiced it on other monsters. But now was as good a time as any to figure it out anyway.

Link approached the knight. He focused on it, particularly its sword. While Link didn't realize, he mirrored the knight perfectly, since he stood in a waiting stance as well. Preparing for the parry.

Its sword was coming to his left. Link, with a yell, immediately jumped over his foe, flipping and striking its helmet off. Its head had a slight resemblance to a jackal's head. He landed on his feet on the other side of the armored enemy, who was grunting in confusion and looking around for the boy. To Link's delight, his parry attack was so strong it knocked the sword from its hand.

Also, Link had an opportunity to see the the knight's back for the first time. He was surprised to see two red straps criss-crossing and holding all the armor together. Link smiled evilly. _Cut them off, and..._

As Link sliced them in half, they dropped the armor to the ground. The hapless knight finally turned and saw Link. No doubt it was wondering how he got there. Then Link was promptly punched in the face.

Link staggered back, not expecting that at all. The knight tried kicking him as well, but Link managed to evade it. Then, Link chucked the boomerang at the knight's head. When it came whirling back at Link, he grinned. _Another reason why I love the boomerang._

Link tossed the grappling hook at the knight. It snagged the ornamental belt back. (Fortunately, the thing's trousers didn't come off.) Link inspected it. He remembered why it was familiar; it was the thing that Orca and Sturgeon had collected! _Wait till I show them this! They'll be so shocked!_

The knight regained its bearings. Now that most of the knight's armor was discarded on the floor, Link could have gone at it with his more basic attacks, but he wanted to practice the parry attack some more. He stood waiting for the knight to attack...

Just to get punched in the jaw. It was especially bad, since it was wearing gauntlets. When the room stopped spinning, Link saw his foe sprinting for the abandoned sword. At a rather swift speed.

Link hurled the boomerang at the enemy's head, effectively incapacitating it temporarily. Link darted for the fallen sword. It was so heavy that Link had to awkwardly wield it with both hands. He was pleased to find that he could still use some of his attacks with this giant weapon. He could even do the spin attack. When he'd tried it, he accidentally slammed it into a nearby pillar. The sword was strong enough for the pillar to crack and come tumbling down. In its place were some bombs this time.

The next column held a heart. He helped himself to it, but unfortunately the knight came back to its senses. Link effortlessly stopped the knight again, but this time it was for a picto. Not surprisingly, Link vowed to himself to never again forget a picto of a boss or mini-boss. So he was more than a little worried when he noticed that the mini-boss picto took up the third and final slot of the pictobox.

_Which do I throw out? Not Niko, since I don't know if I'll ever see him again. And I don't know if beamoses exist anywhere else. But this is a mini-boss! So what so I do for the boss? Skip it again?_

Link felt a twinge of annoyance at himself for that last blunder with the Forbidden Woods boss. But he couldn't dwell on it, since the dazed knight recovered again.

Link ran up to it, waiting for the mini-boss to attack. He barely dodged the strikes thrown his way, and battered the knight multiple times with its own sword. Then he threw it to the knight like an enormous dart.

He missed, but he didn't really care. Just as he'd expected, the knight reclaimed his weapon and faced Link. He'd wanted this, since he could only parry an opponent if they had a weapon. This time, it swung its sword downward. He rolled around his enemy, shuddering as he felt the sword cleave the floor and create small shock waves. Then, he shot upward with his sword in hand.

The knight finally was defeated. It bellowed and thudded onto the ground, until he finally disappeared in a puff of purple smoke. The pearl lit up, flashing as it changed colors. The treasure chest in the center of the room shimmered in the air until it became solid.

Before he collected his bounty, Link had the sudden urge to destroy all the columns with the sword. So he did, revealing various items and loot. Sure, he could've done it with bombs, but using an XL weapon just seemed much more fun.

Author's note: Actually, if Link attacks the armor enough, it'll come off, but that's more risky and tedious, in my opinion. Anyway, I may not be able to update for the rest of the week, since I'm going to be busy. Thanks for reading!


	10. Chosen One

Author's Note: Updates are going to be kinda slow now. I'm getting busy, and I'm not enjoying writing this as much (so quality may go down too). Besides, no one seems to be reading this anyway. So I'll still write this, just much slower. Heh, and to think I used to update this everyday.

Also, I haven't played the game in a while, so I forgot which things killed which beamos, and not everything's going to be exact, ok?

The sea was so far below him. Link stood outside near the top of the tower, sent there by the shimmering purple portal. He briefly gazed down at the sparkling water before his attention was focused upon a Kargaroc swooping at him.

Reflexes took over, and he shot an arrow point blank right at its head. One arrow was all it took to kill it, but Link regretted wasting even a single precious arrow on it. He could have just as easily killed it with his boomerang, but his bow was in hand. _Well, too late_, Link thought as he watched a golden feather plunge into the sea. He randomly wondered about why those feathers plummeted rather than floated down, the way normal feathers and healing hearts did. Perhaps there was actual gold that weighed it down? Now as he turned and ventured up the path, he wondered why healing hearts floated.

The pathway was longer than it looked. A beamos was mounted onto the edge of the path every few feet. As soon as Link stood even remotely close to one, its menacing eye would open and try to zap him with their light beams. Link couldn't exactly skirt over it this time, so he just ran through as fast as he could to avoid them.

He also encountered blue ones. Rather than chasing after him, the beam simply blocked off the way, its beam spreading across the path. He'd never seen those kinds before, so he managed to immediately deduce that they seemed weaker than their pink counterpart, since it didn't tail after him.

They suddenly looked so easy to destroy. Even though Link knew that they were indestructible, he chose to waste another one of his limited arrows on trying to kill one.

He shot. To his amazement, it actually did kill the lights with a shattering sound. It was harmless now. Link grinned. Blue ones had a weakness, after all.

The next one was pink. Link had the feeling these couldn't be extinguished, and confirmed it by shooting an arrow at it. He was promptly fried with an energy beam. Ow. So he simply snuck by pink beamoses and shot down blue ones as he carefully traveled on. The types of beamos alternated as he went up.

Finally, winded and slightly scorched, the colossal door was in sight. Two pink beamoses guarded the stairs to it. He easily rolled passed them and arrived at the door. He first shattered some pots nearby to collect the items. They contained arrows, which he happily scooped up, bombs (that was strange, he hadn't needed to use them in a while), healing hearts that soothed the burns on his body, and a fairy, which he captured in a spare bottle. He kept his bow at the ready and took out the boss key.

As usual, the moment Link inserted the key into the lock, the lock shrunk into oblivion and the chains retreated back. He hurried in.

The door slammed shut, echoing in the metal chamber he was now in. A few meters ahead, a round arena lay, though he couldn't really tell in the dim light. He was currently standing on a short walkway leading up to there. To his sides were small corridors that glowed blue and dangerous. They were below him, so should he fall... Link was mindful of them as cautiously walked on, waiting for whatever monstrosity was in store.

It wasn't until he was almost at the center of the circular floor when a eerie, robotic voice stopped him.

"You have done well to have come to this place."

Link was slightly baffled by this. Since when do bosses ever talk to their victims? Most of the ones he'd faced couldn't even talk. Was he going to fight a human? Well, one that sounded mechanical, maybe. As to the statement itself, he wasn't that surprised. He figured it was just boss sass, and the King of Red Lions had already mentioned that many people did not come back out alive.

He looked around, trying to determine where the voice was coming from. It echoed, and seemed to come from nowhere. Right in front of him on the wall, he noticed some metal casts of...something big. One large one in the center, and two smaller ones on the sides. They bulged out from the wall. Lines ran along them. Link had no idea what exactly they were, but it didn't take a genius to figure it was the boss. The walls blinked with blue specks of light. That, and the glowing corridors he passed by earlier was the only source of light.

"O, Chosen one..."

_Oh, please. Talk about cliche_. The "chosen one" had enough of stalling and thinking. He was eager to just end this already and continue his quest to find Aryll.

"Accept this final challenge."

_Do I have a choice?_ Link thought sarcastically. Only then did Link notice a steel head. Compared to the bulge under it, it seemed small. It had a simple metal crown thing that seemed to be a part of its head. Its eyes were closed, as was its mouth. It had huge nostrils, Link thought.

Suddenly, from the bottom of the lines, a stream of light ran up it, traveling through the square spirals and awakening the things on the wall. They were... Hands. Giant metal ones with thick fingers that could easily pound Link into a pancake. In the center of each palm was a bright green and yellow eye.

They floated out from the wall with a loud crashing sound. They were curled up, he noticed.

But the worst was the head. As soon as the lines of light reached it, the bright crimson eyes snapped open. It levitated high above the ground, and bored its eyes on Link.

They all descended down until they were almost on the ground, in front of Link. They were ready.

And so was he.

He knew immediately to shoot the eyes with his bow and arrows. The eyes of the head were shut, but not the ones on its hands. Without hesitation, he aimed right for the left one, since it was closer. The point of the arrow followed the eye as the hand swayed back and forth. He released the bowstring.

He was surprised when it arrow hit the eye and knocked the whole hand back. He didn't think the arrow had _that_ much impact. With it gone, he focused the arrow at the right hand's eye. He fired, and it connected with the desired target. It was also launched back, but the left hand loomed back behind Link.

Link turned and shot a second arrow at it. The hand stiffened as it was shot again, and then it drooped down, still aimlessly floating about but now shut down.

Link wasted no more time on it as he spun on his heel for the right hand. It moved a lot faster now, turning and twisting. Then, it floated very close to Link and started curling up its fingers into a fist. Link realized in horror what was about to happen, so he frantically loosed another arrow at the eye. It successfully shut it down.

The left hand must not have been shot down well enough, since it was revived and turned sideways. It came fast and nearly swept Link into the corridors below, where he was sure to be electrified. Link couldn't help but feel that he was on a wild goose chase, but nevertheless, he shot that down too.

Finally, both hands were down, and the eyes of the head opened. Link fired arrow after arrow at the right eye. Many of them didn't hit their marks, since it kept moving and Link wasn't exactly trying for accuracy and finesse. They clattered off the sides of the metal head, but some did embed themselves into the eye.

Suddenly, both eyes closed. _Cheater_. Immediately, the room darkened but for the immense ball of light building up in the open mouth. The head faced him as Link tried to run away from it.

Then, the barrage came. Many powerful balls of light shot out in very quick succession. It was all Link could do to avoid being walloped by them.

The smoke cleared out. Link finished off the right eye and started killing off the left one. This time, it was a lot easier, even though Link could feel his quiver lighten as less and less arrows remained. _What do I do when I run out? Oh crap I'll figure that out later. _Link rolled out of the way of the energy balls again, sustaining no damage.

Link wasn't sure what the exact number of arrows required was, but Link shot about five to the eye, which most of them made it. The eyes on the head definitely needed more to shut it down, but Link prevailed.

The head was upright as it slammed into the ground, disabled. Its mouth hung open. So Link drew his sword out. On the first slash the sword clanged against the metal, sending sparks into the air. But it seemed uninjured. That was weird. Link tried again, but the results were the same.

Link ran out of time. The head and the hand were revived again. The head's eyes were closed once again and the hands circled him, very much intact.

But Link didn't register that at first. He just didn't understand. He looked down at his sword like it had just fallen apart or something. _Why didn't it do anything? Using my sword is like the universal weakness-no, the law-of killing bosses. Was I supposed to attack its hands? Or some other vulnerable place...?_

_No, I'm pretty sure it was supposed to be its head. _Link wanted to try it again, just in case the boss was malfunctioning at that moment, but he decided not to. He liked to think he was better than that bumbling fool in Dragon Roost who was nearly defeated by a mere Moblin. He knew by now that being stubborn sometimes was more harmful than helpful.

So he pressed on to cripple the hands again. This time, they was way more aggressive, trying to crush him under a fist while he was occupied with downing the other hand. One time, it even swept him into the corridors below. There, he could barely walk two steps before being zapped out of his skin. Spazzing, he pulled himself back onto the platform, where the bothersome hands waited.

Link's problem surfaced again. There were no pots or grass or even pillars this time. Where was he supposed to get more arrows. Moreover, where was he supposed to obtain healing hearts?

Like with the head, it was harder to shoot the eye every time; often, the arrows bounced off where he missed. It finally came to a point where he ran out of arrows.

To Link's absolute bemusement, the boss snorted out arrows. From its nose. Link was slightly disgusted but figured this was no time to be picky, and he dashed toward the projectiles; besides, he was more than delighted to see that he wasn't going to be defenseless.

A perfect bundle of ten arrows awaited him. As Link collected them and notched one on the bowstring, he randomly wondered about them. Were they ones that Link used already? Link never did see what had happened to the arrows that were in the eyes. And these arrows did feel familiar and comfortable in his fingers. Were they being reused? Or was there a huge stock of arrows in the nostril? Link almost laughed around at the thought of sending his grappling hook up its nostril. But the shadow of a hand directly above him caught his attention back.

Since they were both already weakened from earlier, Link was able to shut down the hands with only three arrows. Link was focusing more on accuracy now.

Link got to attacking the head. He managed to blind one eye before the head began making energy balls again. As it was preparing them, Link ran and rolled away, directly under it.

There was nothing of significance on the bottom of it, but Link did notice that as soon as he was under it, the head immediately stopped making the balls of light, and the room brightened again. Link quickly sorta caught his breath there, but the head moved again and he had to resume shooting its eyes out.

He was nearly out of arrows when the head was done for. It dropped onto the floor. The way its mouth was wide open vaguely reminded Link of something. He took the time to think about it.

An armos knight had hopped closer to him before it opened its mouth wide. It had no teeth. "Rwahhhh," it had bellowed. To silence it, he'd tossed a bomb in its gaping mouth.

Link's hand already reached for a bomb while he thought, YES THAT'S IT! Without wasting another moment, he chucked the bomb into its waiting mouth and stepped back.

The head expanded and jumped a little. A moment later, black smoke came pouring from its ears and nostrils. _Oh snap, it's pissed now_, Link thought.

The hands were animated again. Link was extremely exhausted-he'd never fought a boss this tricky-and didn't move out of the way in time when the fist came crashing down. Another one pushed him into the electric corridor. Twitching, he lifted himself back onto the platform.

Link was about to collapse. So the sight of the head snorting out a healing heart made him use up the last of his energy to barrel across the floor to gain it. He wasn't fully healed or recovered, but he wasn't dead either.

He also fired his last remaining arrow randomly somewhere. He knew that whenever he got more arrows from the boss, the tradeoff was that everything would revive, and he would be back to square one.

Anyway, since he ran out, a new bundle of arrows fell onto the floor. He darted through the hands' attacks to scoop them up.

The hands were really desperate; they were doing everything they could to deter Link. But they were no match for his arrows, and soon, they hung in the air, numbed.

The head tried multiple times to pulverize the boy with the balls of light, but as soon as Link ran under it, it was forced to stop. It was easy for him to incapacitate it now. As yet another bomb exploded in the boss's mouth, the boss jumped and came to again.

Link disposed of his few arrows and restocked. He wondered why the boss helped him. _It's probably so that this stupid machine can test me, to see if I'm this "chosen one",_ Link thought bitterly. Then he wondered why he didn't think about all this when it first happened.

Link was more aware of how the hands acted and attacked, so this time he didn't get hurt even once. It was obvious that they were frantic. More frantic than he was to end this.

Link dispatched them with ease. The head gave a good fight, but it was only a matter of time until Link disabled it as well. It plopped onto the ground, and Link threw in a bomb for what he hoped was the last time. With most bosses, three was the magic number. But this boss obviously didn't follow canon.

The thing had enough. As the bomb exploded, the head spun while it jumped. Then it was very still.

"The path is now open," The voice said to no one in particular. Then, it addressed Link. "O, chosen one... What will now come to pass is tied to fate-the path you have chosen. Proceed with caution."

"Wait!" Link cried. "Why am I the chosen one? And chosen by whom? What path?"

No answer. The head returned to their place in the wall, defeated, and the poor hands followed suit. A beam of purple light from the top of the ceiling struck the ground at a frightening speed.

The heart container spouted from a nostril and bounced onto the floor next to Link. He picked it up, and walked into the light.

As he was spirited away, he realized he'd forgotten about getting the picto for the boss again. But he wasn't nearly as upset as before. Ever since he missed the plant boss's picto, it wasn't as big a deal for him to get every picto. He really only did it for fun now.

His collection would never be complete. So why bother?

Author's Note: Long, right? Anyway, sorry if this chapter got choppy. I didn't want to describe every detail of shutting down the head/hands three times. Thanks to anyone still reading this! :)


	11. Off Day

Author's Note: This chapter is super short, but I'm already working on the next chapter (boss fight against Helmaroc King). This chapter took such a long time since I was working on other stories. Thanks so much to any readers. :)

Link gave Carlov another visit. He appeared to be in a bad mood again. It turned out there were many of those armored knights in Hyrule, so the third slot that mini-boss picto took up was a waste. And he didn't get the boss picto again.

Link randomly took out a picto from the box and slapped it down on the counter. It was the picto of Niko. The figurine man examined it.

"I'm sorry to tell this to you Link," he said. "But you didn't need to take a picto of him. Just a picto of Tetra will be enough for me to be able to sculpt the whole pirate crew."

"What?" Link sputtered. "How does that even work? That makes no sense at all."

Carlov decided not to tell him about his figurine book. "Well, it does. Sorry, but I can't make it. But if you have another pictograph, I might be able to make a figurine for it."

Link fished out another pictograph. It was the picto of the beamos.

"But I already made that, didn't I?" Carlov questioned.

"I..." Link was at a loss. "What are you talking about?!" Link cried. He didn't think he'd ever given this picto to his before.

"Hmm, this picto was well-taken, but it just doesn't inspire me. Not at all," Carlov remarked, as if he hadn't commented on the picto before.

Link gaped at Carlov. He couldn't decide whether to laugh in his face or yell at him. _Must be touched in the head_, he thought. He wasn't sure he wanted to give him the last picto. Maybe he was on an unlucky streak today and this one wouldn't count. Especially since Carlov was acting up today.

Warily, he handed him the third picto. Carlov snatched it up and shouted, "Splendid! This picto will make a _jewel_ of a figurine. Pease, permit me to sculpt this!" His sudden booming voice had made Link jump. Now he was slowly backing away.

"Uh huh, sure," he murmured, then bolted to the portal. As he floated up, he heard Carlov call, "It will be ready tomorrow!"

Back on the grass, Link shivered and exhaled, glad to be away from the madman. He wasn't usually like this. What was going on? Hopefully the next day he would he be a little more sane.

He did the usual Song of Passing routine, and in mere moments, a new day dawned on the Great Sea. Link hesitantly hopped into Carlov's gallery.

He approached the sculptor, ready to run out at any second if necessary. "Hello, Link," he greeted the boy. "I presume you're here for the figurine. It is displayed in the room across from me."

"Th-thank you," Link muttered and raced off. Carlov was left wondering about Link's meek attitude. _I wonder what's going on with him. Must be touched in the head today,_ he decided.

Link shut the Monster Room's door behind him. On his left was a miniature knight. After reading the caption, he learned that the name of its kind was "darknut". Link laughed aloud. What kind of name was that? It wasn't a dark creature (well, it came from Ganon, but whatever), and it wasn't a nut. It was a fierce warrior. Though he supposed "darknut" rolled off the tongue better than "darkknight".

Darknuts were "stalwart knights who are protected by their tough armor. Instead of attacking from the front, a better approach might be to sneak around behind them and slash off their armor straps. Spoils: knight crest."

This was good to know, even if Link already knew most of it. Link had a bunch of knight crests from the monster-ridden Hyrule. Link admitted to sniping down most of his opponents from the balconies with his arrows, but as it turned out, it was nearly impossible to cut off armor straps with arrows.

Sadly, out of his three pictos only one was accepted, but at least he got rid of them. His pictobox was empty. _Now, I might be able to, oh, I dunno, actually get the darn boss picto next time!_


	12. Surprising Potential

Author's Note: Yeah, I know, I was supposed to write about the helmaroc king, but while I wrote it I suddenly remembered about the mini boss before it.

After some encouraging words from the King of Red Lions (for once he actually wished him luck on rescuing his sister instead of harping on about Hyrule), Link dashed up the stairs of the Forsaken Fortress.

Still wary of the bright searchlights, Link had to remind himself: _I'm not defenseless this time. I can hold off some Moblins by myself now. I have a vast selection of weapons to choose from. And_, Link smiled. _I've got the Master Sword. If Ganon comes, I can just kill him here and now._

Link steeled himself and boldly and deliberately waltzed into the beam of a searchlight.

A chilling laugh resounded from all around him. Link jumped and threw his head side to side, and saw nothing there. But as he whirled around, directly behind him materialized an apparition from the ether. It was cloaked in unnatural darkness, as was its enormous sword. On it were some Hylian words inscribed onto it that Link didn't have time to read. The ghost, the phantom, threw its head back in ghastly laughter, then proceeded to summon an electric blue ball of energy as it levitated menacingly over Link.

_Well, that sure was a fast introduction. I really hope I won't have to fight this thing again in the future_, Link thought. All he had time to do was draw his sword as the ball came flying toward him-actually rather slowly, but fast enough that Link was unable to avoid being hit.

It felt more like being hit with a battering ram. The electric shocks were nothing worse than those of a yellow chuchu, and faded seconds after. But the force of it launched him into the stone wall. He was able to get up without missing a beat. It was painful, but nothing worse than what he'd expected.

He reconsidered this after being struck several times more. As he stiffly got up from the floor a fourth time, he was beginning to worry. He just didn't know how to defeat it. The phantom never approached him face-to-face; it was content with hurling his projectiles at the hero from a distance.

Projectiles. Link whipped out his bow and arrows, his bombs, and his boomerang and sent them to the fiend. Nothing worked. They did not harm it in any way, and it was him that suffered the most. In hindsight, he should have known it wouldn't have worked. It was just unlikely that a bunch of random arrows and explosives would injure it.

His experiment had yielded him no fruit. Instead, _he_ was the one deep in the danger zone. Skulls, free of flesh, lay scattered nearby, ironically carrying healing hearts. Finally, for once something containing free healing, Link thought. While he could have walked over and collected the healing hearts from them, Link was much too frustrated to be content with that. Plus, it was risky. While there was little chance of dying right before getting healed, Link wasn't going to risk being insta-killed. The much easier solution would be to down a healing concoction.

Link replaced the bomb bag in his hand with a bottle of blue potion. No soup today, Link thought as he grimaced and tried to stomach the "energy drink", the nickname for either chu jelly or boko baba potions. Vile as it was, the effects were instantaneous. Link felt his energy return, his injuries mended, and his mind cleared.

He didn't even have time to cork the bottle when yet another ball rushed straight at him. How many of the energy balls could it make? Defenseless, Link flung his arms around his head protectively and ducked, bracing for impact.

Nothing happened. He dared to peek through his arms, then dropped them down at his sides while his eyes widened in shock. The ball not only did not hit him, it was racing back to the phantom! Link must have knocked it back with the _bottle_ of all things. He immediately developed a new respect for it.

The phantom was probably surprised that its own weapon was speeding at it, but it merely knocked it back at Link with its club of a sword.

Link waited, eager to try whatever it was again. As it was bounced back to Link, faster than before, he waited, and waited...

And swiped sideways with the bottle. He was too early though, and the fizzling ball exploded on him. Unhindered by this, Link waited for another one. The phantom obliged, sending a blue ball at him.

Link waited. And waited. He knew he would have to wait until the very last second before he struck. _Think of it as catching a fairy_, Link thought to himself. _Actually, I wonder if you can catch these things in a bottle. Well, I didn't earlier, but_-

_OH NOW NOW NOW!_ Before Link could think further, his arm already responded, swinging around and smacking it hard. Plink! It sailed back to his opponent.

Success! Link almost said out loud. The phantom hit it back with the flat of his blade. Smack!

Plink!

Smack!

Each time they volleyed it back to each other, the ball flew faster and faster, like a bullet.

Plink!

Smack!

Plink!  
Smack!  
Plink!

The phantom didn't swing fast enough, and was finally hit with his own projectile. _About time_, Link thought. Rather than plopping down onto the ground like all those others bosses, he floated down, like he had the air resistance of a feather. It knelt on the ground, hunched in defeat, its sword the only thing keeping it upright. It was picto-perfect.

_Picto-perfect? Don't I mind if I do_. Trading out his bottle for his pictobox, Link quickly snapped a picto of it. _Excellent. Couldn't find a better time to get its picto, really._

Right then, the monster snapped out of its daze and returned to the fight. As it rose into the air, it generated a blue ball. With an eerie cry, it hurtled it at Link. It moved rather slowly though.

Link whisked out his sword, and a second later realized, _Wait I need the bottle!_

Too late. As if his arm had a mind of its own, it swung of its own accord, squarely slapping it back to his attacker. Bam!

Smack!

Bam!

Smack!

Bam!

Smack!  
Bam!  
Smack!  
Bam! Smack! Bam!

It whizzed by so fast that the phantom couldn't keep up anymore. It sank to the ground again.

Link dashed over and unleashed a series of horizontal slashes. _Slash slash cut slash!_ By now, most of the bosses and mini-bosses he'd fought would have retreated, but this one was still on the ground. Not fearing any potential traps, Link pressed on with a series of vertical slices. _Slice slice uppercut spin attack!_

But as he was doing the spin attack, the phantom disappeared into thin air. _What the... Where did it go? _Just in case, Link backed up, tightly clutching his sword. He should have known it would pull a trick like that.

Right behind him, the phantom reappeared. Before Link gave it a chance to raise its sword he launched into a flurry of cuts and slashes. Not long after, it dissipated once again.

The searchlights continued their aimless wandering on the battle floor. It was rather spooky. Shadows loomed up where the lights shone. One moment Link would have to squint in near darkness, the next moment he would be blinded by a light right in his eyes.

It emerged high above him, a ball already prepared and ready to hurl. As the ball made its way to Link, he quickly backed up and put away his weapons for the empty bottle. It felt weird to fight the phantom without a shield in his right hand. It dangled there, exposed.

It got closer, enlarging in Link's view. Almost...

Plink!

Smack!

Plink!

Smack!

Plink!  
Smack!  
Plink!  
Smack!  
Plink! Smack! Plink smack plink smack plink!

It had gotten to the point where if he'd even blinked, he would have missed the chance of rallying it back and then would have gotten hit.

But Link won their little contest. Link had always been rather competitive, though somehow he was never a sore loser (but still, how the heck did he get second place at that pig-catching contest last year?).

So as he sank the blade of evil's bane into the phantom's shadowy flesh, he thought, _Thanks for the challenge. For once, I enjoyed that fun mini-boss fight._

_But, you got beaten by a bottle. That's... Just incredible._

The phantom didn't exactly die, like the other monsters. It thrashed around, and then vanished in a puff of smoke. Or something akin to smoke. Anyway, Link glanced around, waiting for the phantom to reappear. He was rewarded with the phantom's ominous laugh, coming from above. As he gazed up, it spun it the air with rapid speed and then shrank into nothing. Much like what the portals at a boss room would do to Link.

The bars holding closed the doors rose, seemingly of its own accord, and a treasure chest materialized in the center of the cold stone floor. The lights seemed to linger on it.

For a short second, Link stared in awe at his empty bottle. _Who knew it had such deadly and surprising potential? I wonder what else it works on._

_Well, y'know, that pesky octorok in the Forest Haven has always annoyed me..._

Author's Note: If you're curious, the words on the sword translate to "Zubora Gabora", I think. I guess I would call that significant... If I knew what was so special about it. Also, I think I'll be able to upload the next chapter soon, but that's all for a while. I'm going on a last minute vacation!


	13. Broken Mask

With the Master Sword in hand and the skull hammer within easy reach, Link pushed open the huge wooden door. Rather than charge in the room, Link cautiously peered around the spacious chamber.

Link was on the very top floor of the fortress. There was no ceiling; looking up, Link could see the clear night sky. There were long spiraling walkways hugging the walls. It led up to the very top. Lit torches were attached on the walls of the walkways every few meters. Not a sound could be heard.

Warily, Link tiptoed in, looking nervously around the room. He was prepared for anything.

When nothing happened, Link breathed in relief and allowed himself a small smile before journeying on to the wooden cell.

Aryll was in there. It was all Link's could do not to bolt up there, but he knew he still had to remain quiet, lest they get caught. That would be the end of the rescue mission.

She gasped when she saw him. "Big brother!" She cried. The other two girls imprisoned with her also turned around and stared at the boy. He recognized the rag-clothed one as the daughter of that annoying hobo who would always hobble after him in Windfall Island, begging for him to rescue his daughter. Only the seagulls, no doubt attracted to the cell by Aryll, paid no attention to the visitor. Link beamed at her but raised a finger to his lips. She understood and tried to express her joy more quietly.

"You're okay," she breathed. "I was so worried." Link frowned at the cage. How was he supposed to bail them out? The wooden bars were too thick to chop down. The skull hammer and his bombs was cause too much commotion.

Futilely, he tried twisting and pulling on the doorknob. He figured he looked stupid, but he really didn't care. Until he heard a familiar voice call out, "How silly. Don't you know the cell won't open that easily?"

He whipped around and nearly jumped in shock. Somehow, in front of him was Tetra and her two lackeys! She was smirking like usual, but Link was starting to despair that his sister might be locked up forever. It looked like a cruel sneer to him.

He glared at her in undisguised frustration. She acted as if she didn't notice and continued on. "There you go again, acting before you think. What have I said about using your head?"

She flicked her hand toward the cell, and her henchmen began making their way toward it. She smiled at Link as if she thought she was doing a noble act, which perhaps she was, but Link could barely see straight and saw it as a taunt.

"Really! Do you even realize that we had to distract that monster bird for you? It was going to come flying in here again!" She informed him.

By now, Link turned his back her, totally ignoring her. He was much more interested with the pirates' attempt at opening the cell door. Unfortunately, not much progress was made.

Tetra shut up. Link's anger cooled, so he decided to face her again. To his surprise, Tetra was staring at him, eyes wide and mouth agape. "That sword..." She seemed to be muttering to herself.

"Where did you get that?!" She demanded loudly. Link decided not to answer that. Then to herself again, she mused, "Is he...is it possible...?" She put her hands back on her hips in defeat. "How could it be?"

She spoke out loud again. "We'll, never mind that. We'll take these girls for now. I'm certain that their fathers at Windfall will pay a handsome reward for their safe return." The two pirates slung the struggling girls over their shoulders and walked back to Tetra. Aryll remained at the open door, smiling with indescribable joy. Link laughed with exultation.

The moment, however, was ruined by Tetra's sarcastic remark. "I'm so sorry to interrupt such a heartwarming reunion." Both of them turned to stare at her. She pointed up at the sky. "But there's still something that you need to take care of."

Link understood and nodded grimly. He gathered up all his focus. Aryll walked up slowly to her big brother, worry etched on her petite face.

"There's no need to worry about your sister." Tetra was serious again. "I promise I'll bring her safely back to your little island. Though normally, I'd expect a hefty reward for something like this. But this time, it's on me."

Link had misjudged her earlier. She really was doing him a favor.

The pirate captain now addressed Aryll. "Listen, Aryll. Your brother still has some things to take care of. Big, important grownup things. He'll be back soon, so you just wait nice and quiet with us until he comes back. Okay?"

"But, big brother," she whispered to Link. He paid her little heed.

Gonzo hurried into the room. "Miss Tetra! That bird will be here any moment! We must leave!"

"Gonzo! Good timing! We're going to take her." He was about to object, but she glowered at him and snapped, "Just do what I say!" Link had never seen her look so threatening before.

The burly pirate then unceremoniously hoisted Aryll onto his shoulder and carried her away. "Big brother!" She cried. Link sadly waved to her. He knew she would be in good hands, but it hurt to know that he was so close, yet so far away.

They rushed out. Right before Tetra exited, she looked back at Link and winked. "Link. We'll meet again, I promise." Then she disappeared into the dark.

Up above, the unmistakable shape of the bird soared over. Link stepped into the stairs that led to a walkway. The door that Tetra and company escaped with eerily creaked and shut. Water gushed out of a hole in the floor and started spreading throughout the entire room. The bird dropped from the hole in the room and stopped its descent right in front of Link. It focused its feral eyes on him.

Link sighed. He supposed he should start "taking care of important, grownup things."

Link dashed up the path, trying not to spend all of his energy on the climb. The bird eyed him, but he ignored it. Well, until the bird squawked and pecked the walkway, nearly impaling him! It missed, but it was so mighty that that section of it broke off behind him. It served to encourage him to complete his goal: get to the top. He ran faster, desperately trying not to get pecked by the bird and consequently fall down with the walkway.

A bokoblin appeared from nowhere and swung its machete at Link. He dodged it. No time to engage in fighting, not with this bird trying to sabotage his mission. A squawk gave away the bird's intentions as it drove its beak into the wooden path again. Link emerged unharmed again, but judging from a panicked cry, the bokoblin sure didn't.

His feet hit stone again. Three blue jars were lined up against the wall. Link didn't bother with them. They probably just contained healing hearts, which he didn't need. He continued on, knowing that between the bird and the rising water, each second wasted meant a second closer to death.

He was back on a stretch of wood. Another bokoblin popped out right in his path. He jerked to a stop and swerved around it. But the monster delayed him long enough that the next peck landed on the section of path he was on!

The wood beneath his feet crumbled under him. He pushed off the falling path and leaped right onto the pathway again. Glad that he could continue up, he began rolling and running up. The boards splashed into the water below.

The trek was tiring him out. The physical exertion of climbing uphill and the panic that fueled his adenine was taking a toll on Link. So the next peck landed again on the pathway he was on. He threw himself at the path ahead and just barely caught it with his fingers. Kicking his feet in the air, he lifted himself up.

A third bokoblin jumped out of a pot and tried to duel with Link. How many of them were there? And when would this path end? He merely drew out his sword and cut it down out of his way. It wasn't dead, but that didn't really matter as of the moment.

The bird must have had enough of fruitless pecking and flew up. It rammed into Link, crushing him against the wall before retreating back. Link was injured, but still fit to run.

Up ahead were some pots. Link eagerly rushed for them, slashing at them for precious healing hearts. But rather than drawing his sword, he accidentally grabbed the skull hammer! Well, it still worked, but swinging the hammer took up more energy and time than he wanted. But the hearts were a sufficient trade off.

Finally, the last stretch of path. Link continued running up, though fully winded by now. No pecks destroyed the path behind him, no sudden ambushes from the bird. What was going on?

The last three jars awaited him on the path. Link stopped, turned around, and helped himself to more of the needed hearts.

When he turned back, he was in for a fright. The bird block the very end of the path to the top. Its large masked head loomed over the boy. He reflexively jumped back a little.

If there was a pot in sight, he might have thrown it at the monster like he did with Gohma. That was how panicked he was. Similarly, before registering what he was doing, he already smashed the bird's face in with his hammer.

With a loud screech of a wail, it flailed its head back and plunged into the water below like dead weight. Looking down, Link could see the missing sections of the path caused the by the boss.

_One day I think I'm going to have a heart attack._ The shock of seeing the bird right in his face combined with the effort it took to journey all the way here resulted in a very fatigued Link.

Well, it was over. It was an abnormally quick battle, but it was by far the most exhausting one he'd ever been in. The path cleared up, Link walked up to the end. Climbing over the small ledges, he soon stood at the very top of the entire fortress.

A stone bridge led up to Ganon's lair. Link was about to cross it (after catching his breath, of course) and fight Ganon with the Master Sword, but his plans were sabotaged by the shaking of the fortress. Was Ganon coming?

The tremor was so powerful that it shook Link right at the edge of the hole he'd just come out of. If he fell in, he would plummet into the water and, like the bird, die upon impact. Of so he'd thought.

The shaking abruptly ended with the arrival of the bird. It corkscrewed up, its flaming yellow tail trailing behind. If Link didn't have such... Bad experiences with it, he might even call the bird beautiful.

It continued spiraling high up. It fanned its wings out wide and began hovering in front of Link. Myriad feathers began drifting down. As it flapped its wings furiously, its tail waved out in time with it, like waves on the Great Sea.

Spikes popped up from the ground where the bridge was. He wouldn't be able to cross it, not even with his skull hammer. It looked like fighting Ganon would have to wait for another time. Spikes also ringed the entire round arena floor, sticking out from the walls. He'd had to avoid those. A makeshift floor covered up the large hole he was just in a minute ago. It was made from the ledges he'd climbed on earlier. Now it was one smooth arena floor.

The helmaroc king wasn't going to leave. Link was trapped with it. But he didn't mind.

He was ready for revenge.

Link generally had good morals, courtesy of his grandma, and usually revenge wasn't something he took part in. But, even though his conscience was against it, he decided to make an exception and forego his morals temporarily. He hoped Aryll would appreciate it.

The bird was already swooping down. Link readied his hammer, unsure of what exactly to do. He narrowly sidestepped out of the reach of the bird's talons as it landed, nearly on top of him.

Too close for comfort, Link thought. He began backing away. The bird's masked head turned to Link and hopped closer to him. It then waddled towards him. He backed away even more; yet he was mindful of the spikes on the walls. The bird was never far from him.

The monstrous bird proceeded to caw rather loudly and, with a lot of force, drove its armored beak into the stone ground. Again, Link just barely dodged it. Now that he was face-to-face with his opponent-well really, its head-Link could tell that its head wasn't actually bigger than him, but the mask made it look way taller than him.

The bird was shaking, struggling to pull its head out from the floor. Ironically, it seemed to have pinned _itself_ onto the floor, while Link was free. For a second, Link considered taking its picto now, but shoved the thought aside as he realized that not all of the bird's body would show up. And that was not meet one of Carlov's standards. Ugh.

It squawked and screeched as it tried to free itself. _Let me lend a hand-or a hammer_, Link thought as he swung it back before slamming it into the bird's mask.

It threw its head back, free from the ground. Link could see a blue crack forming on the metal mask. It wailed and flew back into the safety of the air. Link didn't really think this idea would work, but just in case, he took out his bow and arrows and fired one at it. Sure enough, it bounced off the mask.

The bird circled around him in the night sky. It couldn't attack him from up there. The beams of light from the searchlights swept across the sky, occasionally illuminating the bird. It was here that Link chose to take the picto. Its head was in full view, its wings were spread out wide, and its fiery tail was cascading behind it. It was a very good picto. Right as it began diving down he took another one just in case, though he didn't have time to see how it turned out.

Much like before, Link had to evade the bird as it landed quite close to him and waited for it to peck the ground. It missed Link again when it pecked the ground. It was stuck yet again.

Just to be sure, Link slashed its talons and its bulging feathery belly. Just as he suspected, no damage. How annoying. It looked like he would have to get rid of the mask.

The bird was still immobilized. Link took the opportunity to pound his hammer into the bird's mask again. The crack widened even more.

It shrieked as it retreated back into the sky. It wasn't so harmless now. It spent less time in the air and more time assaulting Link with its numerous attacks. It rushed down, but rather than just landing, it raked its talons across the arena before flying back up. Red-hot sparks flickered in the air. Again, the bird swooped down only to drag its talons across the floor. Link wasn't expecting it and was caught up in the attack. He was thrown to the floor, all battered up. He rolled to the side to avoid a third attack. Link got up, watching the bird warily, but the bird was tired out as well. It landed soundlessly on the floor.

As usual, Link avoided it and waited for it to get itself stuck in the ground again. When it did, Link swung his hammer, sideways this time across its face. The crack split the mask. Yet somehow, it still stayed on.

_Hey, what the heck? What happened to "three is the lucky number"?_ Link waited a fourth time to smash its mask. _CRASH!_

Cracks streaked through the metal, resembling a spider web. It shattered and broke off, piece by piece. And unlike the broken bits of pots, this remained on the ground. Link made a mental note not to trip over them.

The bird had a cute yellow crest on its head, much like a rooster's. In fact, the whole head looked like one of a rooster's. It had a dark reddish head and red glaring eyes. Its beak, unfortunately, was as sharp as ever. It seemed that pecking the stone ground hadn't dulled it at all.

It was truly angry now. It managed to stomp all over Link, who was caught unaware. Not giving Link a chance to recover from its rampage, it hovered back into the air, above him and flapped its winds furiously. Link got up and fought the forceful wind, running against it as hard as he could. He glanced behind him and saw the spikes jutting out from the wall mere inches away. Link ran harder, not wanting to be impaled on a spike.

Link nearly hurled himself forward as he continued running when the wind abruptly stopped. The bird escaped high into the air again.

_Oh no you don't_, Link thought as he readied his bow. Ignoring his injuries, he stood up and trained the arrow point at the flying bird. He released it, and without the mask to protect it, the bird screeched as it encountered the arrow. Many more followed. The bird decided to drop down again onto land.

Link wasn't going to let himself be crushed by the bird. He jumped away and taunted the bird by shooting more arrows at it. It worked; the bird was infuriated. It drove its beak into the ground once again, and Link pulled out his sword and slashed away. A muffled scream issued from the bird with each cut, and after several blows it tugged itself out of the ground and flew away.

With it temporarily gone, Link got the time to run to the edge and smite the rocks with his hammer. He collected the glittering healing hearts just in time for the bird to swipe the ground with its talons. Link half huffed, half sighed as he grabbed his bow and an arrow. Any time the bird was about to use an attack in the air, Link discouraged it by shooting its face. It was tired of getting shot over and over and finally just landed like normal. _Good timing_, Link thought grimly. _I just ran out of arrows._

The bird turned to Link and hopped closer before pinning Link to the ground. Or at least it tried to; Link easily back flipped out of the way. Then, with a final mighty cut from the Master Sword, the bird was done for.

The bird screeched and started swaying unsteadily on its feet... Like it was drunk or something... And its wings started jerking and flapping as the bird tried to carry itself back to the sky. It flew with great effort, almost as if it were limping while it flew, if that was possible. Its bright, massive tail flailed in the sky, no longer so beautiful.

As if this were some show, the searchlights trained on the bird from all directions, one by one lighting it up as it wailed one last horrible scream and exploded into a huge dense cloud of purple dust. One thing fell from the remains. The heart container plummeted to the ground and bounced up with a pleasing chiming sound like a dropped rupee. Link jumped up and down in victory, with the hammer in hand. He had finally avenged his sister by defeating the bird. But there was still one other... thing he had to defeat.

As Link took the heart container, he brandished his sword and headed up the stone bridge to face the bird's master.

Author's Note: I'm back! Yay! And I'm sorry to say that... School's starting soon, and I don't think I will be able to update this for a long, long time (and if I do, it won't be very consistent). Maybe on weekends and breaks. Thanks to all my readers once again!


	14. Handy Ballad

It was amazing how much the Ballad of Gales made Link's life so much easier. Less changing wind direction, less sailing, more getting stuff done. Link already possessed the master sword. Now he was supposed to find the sacred sages so that the master sword could be at full power again.

Link's gleeful laugh was louder than the rushing winds and churning waves swirling around him and the King of Red Lions. "Link! Y-You must stop fooling around with the sacred Ballad of Gales!" The boat yelled.

"Sorry, what was that?" Link laughed again. "I couldn't hear you over the sound of the whirlwind caused by the song."

They started spinning. Faster and faster. Soon, everything was a blur of colors as Link and the boat rose up in the air, twirling as they went. It wasn't long until they plopped back down into the waves, spinning slower and slower. The familiar sight of Windfall graced their eyes.

"Uggghhhhhh!" The boat groaned. "That is the third time you've played that in the last hour! Your king commands that you-ACK!"

Unfortunately for the nauseated boat, Link was already conducting the ballad. As the heavenly voices sang to his song, the whirlwind began twisting around them.

"Hmm... Where else is there to go... Tingle Island? Southern Fairy Island? Oh, cool!" Link suddenly exclaimed. "The Tower of Gods is on here!" He rested the tip of the Wind Waker on the "Tower of Gods" square on the sea chart.

The winds brought them to the tower. The King of Red Lions promptly passed out. Link sighed and had to cruise to enter the tower. He noticed the portal to Hyrule remained closed. As he approached the entrance he wondered how Zelda was doing, though he didn't dwell on it.

The splashing water echoed off the walls. Link was eager to leave the water floor. _This place has always felt so eerie. And those creepy faces on the walls and windows aren't helping!_

He left the boat behind in the water floor as he swam to the stairs leading up to the floors of the tower.

He journeyed on. Near the top, Link was pleased to find the purple portals, still shimmering as the sparkles shot up. Link rode the portals up.

A soft breeze hit him as he landed outside. The view was amazing. Link thought he could see (and name) most of the islands of the Great Sea. And down below, the water flowed serenely around the ancient tower. It was times like this that Link wanted to just forget about everything and fly away with the Deku Leaf until he ran out of magic.

His thoughts were shattered with the squawk of a Kargaroc. _Haven't I killed you already?_ Link thought as he shot the bird. Again, its spoils dropped into the sea and sank, forever lost.

Link simply ran though the beamoses and stopped at the door. The places where the chains and lock once rested was obvious. The salty sea air and harsh wind took its toll on the door. Only the center, where the lock was, did not suffer erosion.

The hero had no idea what he was doing here. But he was stuck here, since the boat was still out cold. He decided to go in.

He walked up to the arena, where he passed his "final challenge". Then, out of curiosity, he dropped into the electric floor. He was duly zapped. _Okay, so it still works._

He hurriedly got out from there and faced the wall where his opponent was embedded. It was silent and still. Its round red eyes were shut, as if sleeping, and its hands were by its side, lying flat.

An idea suddenly struck Link. _I wonder if I can take a picto of this boss. Sure, it's...dormant, but it was still a boss, right?_

Link backed up, holding the pictobox to his eye. He couldn't get a picto of the whole thing; the sides of its hands were cut off of the picto. He took the picto. Or tried to.

_Wait, why can't I take a picto here?_ Then Link remembered that all three slots were taken up, two of them being pictos of the bird. He facepalmed.

He took a look at the pictos. The second picto captured the entire bird, although it was rather small in the picto. In the third picto the bird was bigger but its left wing was clipped off. Link deleted that picto.

He held the pictobox to his face and tried again. The picto wasn't perfect; the boss was so big that Link couldn't get a picto of the whole thing. The sides of the hands were cut off of the picto.

Still, it was satisfactory. After glancing at it one more time, Link approved of the picto and put away his pictobox.

_Now, anything else to do?_

One thing that severely disappointed Link was that the portal to the very top of the tower was gone. What a shame. He really enjoyed ringing that bell, even if it had hurt his ears.

Link took one more look at the large room he was in. He didn't expect to ever return here (of his own accord anyway), so with a last lonely smile, he strode out of the room.

Author's Note: So, I managed to get out one more chapter right before school began. I _might_ update the next one on Labor Day, just so you know. Also this chapter was short because I wasn't planning to write this yet.


	15. Blooming Colors

For once, the moon was up by the time Link arrived at the Nintendo gallery. He disembarked from the boat onto the little isle and began climbing up the golden ladder. As he stepped on each individual rung, he couldn't help but grumble a little at the immense height of the ladder. Did it have to be so needlessly long?

By the time he reached the top, his arms and legs were sore, but after he shook them out they were back to normal. Link decided to play around with a newly acquired move: the hurricane spin. He lunged into the familiar stance of the spin attack and held the Master Sword straight out behind him. But rather than unleashing it immediately, he waited.

It was imperceptible at first, but Link felt that odd tingling feeling buzz through his sword. Then, as magic began building up, the buzz became stronger and stronger until-

"YAHHHHH!" Link couldn't control it anymore. The sword practically moved itself as Link spun round and round like a-you guessed it-hurricane. All the while, his sword was still held straight out, so anyone within its radius would be pulverized by the hero-turned-hurricane.

This was faster than any spin attack he'd ever unleashed. Link squinted as he tried to make out his surroundings, but his eyes kept watering and blurring his vision. He knew the hurricane spin didn't last that long, but by the amount of grass he was cutting-

_WHOA!_

Link figured out he was falling a split second later. Utter blackness was all he saw. Was he falling in the ocean? When he looked down, he mentally sighed in relief. Below him was not the sea, but the end of the portal and the floor of the Nintendo gallery.

_I'm going to have to learn how to control that soon_, Link thought as he soundlessly landed on the glass floor of the portal. Carlov was at his desk as usual, but he was drooped over it, as if he was about to fall asleep.

Link grinned. He took a deep breath and shouted, "CARLOV!"

The sculptor immediately shot up. His expression showed he was clearly fazed as he squinted in the bright light and looked around. "H-huh? What? What is it?"

His response was laughter. Coming from the right. "Link," Carlov groaned. "Naughty boy. What was that for?"

"I needed to get your attention," he replied, with fake innocence oozing in his voice. He was still smiling.

"Well, you got it now," Carlov muttered. "What do you want?"

"Here!" Link waved a picto in the Carlov's face. He plucked it from the boy's hand and geld it up in the light. Then he gasped. "Link! This is Phantom Ganon!"

"It is? Cool! Will you make a it figurine for it?" Link already knew what the inevitable answer was, and began to slowly leave.

"Certainly! And it'll be ready tomorrow." Carlov put the picto down and began taking out his tools and a large slab of rainbow rock. Link stopped right in front of the portal to look at the rock. He could see how it got its name. It was iridescent, shimmering and sparkling with different colors. Carlov glanced once more at the pictograph and murmured some words. He then snapped his fingers.

The rock changed colors immediately. The other bright colors seemed to flee away from the center of the rock. And in the center blossomed a small splash of black that quickly permeated throughout the stone, chasing down the other colors and swallowing them until only the black remained.

Carlov snapped again, and thin blue lines etched themselves onto the black mass. They snaked and streaked through the rock like vines on a tree, and soon, the pattern matched the one on the picto of Phantom Ganon.

Link could only watch in awe. This was, by far, one of the coolest things he'd ever seen. He had no idea this was how the figurines were made.

Carlov grabbed some tools and was about to chisel away when he noticed Link. "Link!" He thundered, in surprise and fury. "What are you still doing here? I thought you left!" Carlov shoved all his tools under his desk, hoping that maybe Link hadn't seen them, or worse, the rainbow rock. But of course the boy had. He was staring right at him.

"Can I stay and watch? This is so cool! I've never seen you make a figurine before," Link said.

"No. Now go, please."

"What? Can't I stay, just once?"

"No! Now be a good little boy and leave. It'll be ready tomorrow."

"Fine," Link said. Quietly, but loudly enough that Carlov heard, he murmured, "Guess the rumors of Carlov making figurines in his underwear isn't true. Not that I'm complaining. I sure wouldn't want to see that!" Then Link walked up to the mirror on the floor and was taken away by the portal.

Carlov could only grin. _Well, actually..._

Up above ground, Link already has the Wind Waker out. He had forgotten the song of passing though, and was just playing the same beat over and over. _Let's see, how did it start again? Wait, how does it even sound?_

Link could hardly think over the "uhm, uhm, cha" of the beat. _Uhm, uhm, cha? Wait a moment..._ Suddenly, Link was reminded of the crazy man who had taught his the song. The whole memory of it flooded through his mind, and he shouted, "I got it!"

Just as how the man had done, Link played right, left, down. The call of dawn answered him. He cheered.

When the sun was up in the sky, Link played it again. Quiet nighttime answered. Only the waves and the crickets made any sort of noise. Link hopped down to the gallery.

"It's done." Carlov didn't look all too happy about seeing Link. "In the room across from me."

Link went there and sure enough, the figurine was there. It was created in the perfect likeliness of the mini-boss, although here, it was upright, not hunched over. It wielded its sword. _Awwww, he didn't sculpt the blue ball._

Upon closer inspection, the letters on the sword were there. Carlov really paid attention to detail. With some straining, Link could see that the words on the sword were "Zubora Gabora". He gasped in awe. They were the names of the blacksmiths who made swords for a hero long ago. Link wondered if he would meet them.

The description read: "Phantom Ganon. Effective weapons are light arrows, Master Sword."

_What's a light arrow?_

"This is a phantom created by Ganon in his own likeness." _This is what Ganon looks like? Hmmm, I thought he looked different._ "Use the Master Sword to knock back the balls of magic it throws, then attack him when he is down." _Yes, I knew that already_. "In fact, it is possible to use empty bottles to deflect the magic attacks." Link laughed out loud at that. Yes, he definitely knew about that already. The memory was funny.

He went back to the main room. He could see Phantom Ganon again later (and laugh, of course), but right now, he needed to get rid of his pictos.

The next one was the one of the bird. Carlov accepted it and, none too kindly, shooed him away. So Link did the song-of-passing dance again and the next night went back to see the figurine.

Carlov glared at Link and pointed to the room across from him. _Sheesh, what's his problem?_ Link thought as he headed over to the Monster Room. _Is he still mad about me watching him make figurines? Come on! That only happened once!_

The figurine of the bird was off in the back. Carlov sculpted it with its wings spread out and its tail fanned out behind. And from reading the description, Link found out that its name was "The Monstrous Helmaroc King".

"The Helmaroc King is a monstrous bird." _Yes, I already knew that from its name._ "It serves its master Ganon. It has been fitted with a mighty metal mask." _Ooh, nice alliteration._ "Once the helmet has been destroyed by the skull hammer, its tender beak will be vulnerable."

_Hey, I just noticed something. I bet its called the "Helmaroc King" because it has a helmet! Get it? Hahaha I can't wait to tell the boat my new pun!_

Link exited the room and was about to step into the portal when he remembered that last picto. He'd forgotten all about it before.

He meekly approached Carlov with his one last picto. "Um, do you think you can make a figurine of this?"

Carlov accepted it. Link couldn't believe it. "Yeah, sure, it'll be ready tomorrow. Now go," The sculptor replied.

"Wait, so you'll take the picto? You'll make it? The figurine?" Link sputtered in surprise.

"I can as soon as you _leave_," Carlov growled.

Link chose not to bother him anymore and quickly left the gallery. With stunning fervor (and impatience) Link conducted the song twice and hurried down to see it.

"Across from me," Carlov said. Link hesitated for a moment. _I should probably settle our differences now._

_Or I could go see the figurine I thought I'd never see!_ Link practically sprinted to the Monster Room without so much as a "thank you" to Carlov.

The boss was somehow suspended in the air in the figurine, just as it had done in real life. "Gohdan, the Great Arbiter." Link read aloud.

"This machine was created as a trial for the great hero and to judge him worthy. It will fall to the ground only when the eyes on the hands and face have been pierced by arrows. Once it is down, it can be defeated by tossing a bomb in its open mouth. Should the hero run out of ammunition, bombs and arrows will drop from the boss's nostrils. It should be noted that Gohdan is the only "non-evil" boss, as it was not designed by Ganon. It is also the only boss where a sword is unnecessary to defeat it."

_That's cool. That would explain why Gohdan simply returned to the wall rather than explode into purple mass._

_So, I can't help but notice that I managed to get a figurine of Gohdan even though I didn't get its picto earlier. Does this mean... that I can still get a figurine of the plant boss?_

Author's Note: I don't know when I will be able to update again. Not for a long time though. But at least I managed to post this up in time!

Also, through a PM or a review, please notify me if I've repeated any material or made mistakes. Examples: (I'm just making them up) "you've already said that Link could do the hurricane spin last chapter." Or "you already said (insert my lame joke) in another chapter." This will help me a lot. Thanks!


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